


Opposites Attract

by tervshimc



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Background Relationships, Fluff and Angst, Homophobia, M/M, Manga & Anime, Minor Violence, Romantic Fluff, Volleyball
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 53,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27553768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tervshimc/pseuds/tervshimc
Summary: Suguru Daishou finds love for few things, one thing happens to be a certain blonde with a tongue piercing. Yuuji Terushima finds love in almost everything especially a certain dark haired boy.
Relationships: Daishou Suguru/Terushima Yuuji
Comments: 44
Kudos: 105





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm not very good at writing so please don't judge me, but um anyways, if you don't ship the ship just scroll away instead of hating!! :)

“Terushima!” Takeharu called out, as he set the ball towards him. Terushima jumped up as high as he could, getting ready to spike the ball into Nohebi’s court. The score was 24 to 23, if they won this point they would win this set and the match. Terushima’s eye fell onto Daishou, he smirked and spiked the ball as hard as he could. There was no doubt Terushima was powerful, Daishou dove to pick up the ball but he was too late. The ball had already touched the ground and the final whistle blew.

“Yeah!!” Johzenji’s team cheered out, tackling Terushima to the ground. Terushima laughed and stood up. Terushima made his way over to Nohebi’s side of the court.

“Nice practice match huh Shou-san?!” Terushima exclaimed.

“Yeah, great job Terushima,” Daishou replied smirking, “Don’t call me Shou-san.”

“I’ll always call you Shou-san and you can’t stop me pretty boy!” Terushima exclaimed smirking. To this Daishou rolled his eyes, as his coach called him over he waved bye to Terushima and walked away, Terushima made his way back to his own team. Once arriving he and his team all formed a semi-circle around the bench where their coach and two managers were sitting.

“Great job today!” Runa exclaimed, making the whole team smile and cheer.

“Don’t start getting cocky and start slacking off guys, there’s always room for improvement,” Hana added, causing everyone to slowly stop cheering.

“Alright everyone wait till Nohebi’s finished their meeting and then go say thank you and make your way back to the bus!” Terushima said happily. Everyone nodded and then waited until Nohebi’s coach stopped talking to them and then made their way over to thank them. 

“Thank you!!” Everyone said in unison bowing kindly and then began to walk off. Terushima stayed behind for a few minutes to talk to Daishou.

“I’ll see you later tonight with everyone else!!” Terushima exclaimed happily.

“You don’t ever get tired or exhausted do you Terushima?” Daishou asked kindly, walking with Terushima towards the exit. 

“Not usually,” Terushima admitted with a smile on his face, Daishou let out a small soft laugh and stopped at the exit.

“See you later.”

“Bye!!” Terushima said as he smiled at Daishou. Terushima began to walk not paying attention to where he was going, being so interested in Daishou, he walked right into the door frame. Daishou laughed.

“Look at where you’re going idiot,” Daishou said mid-laugh.

“Stop laughing at my pain,” Terushima said with a frown on his face. He heard his team call his name laughing, clearly they had seen Terushima walk straight into the door frame, “Bye!!” Terushima said once again and ran out the door to his team hitting the backs of his friends' heads. Daishou let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and turned around to help his team clean the gym. After an hour of cleaning Daishou made his way to the club room, changing back into his uncomfortable school uniform. He gathered his things and walked out of the club room, he went out to the front of the school where he saw his best friend Mika.

“Oi! I told you not to wait up for me tonight,” Daishou said as he made his way closer to Mika.

“I wanted to, plus I watched your practice match against Johzenji,” Mika admitted. Daishou sighed and began walking. “You really need to work on your feelings towards Terushima.”

“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t like him like that before you understand?” Daishou asked, clearly annoyed at the accusation.

“It’s obvious, so quit being in denial!” Mika exclaimed.

“I’m not in denial!! Quit trying to put words into my mouth,” Daishou said.

“I’m saying what your heart wants to say but you don’t want to admit.”

“There’s nothing to admit oh my god,” Daishou said exasperated. Mika rolled her eyes and continued trying to prove her point until they made it to her house. Daishou said his final goodbyes to Mika and started walking home alone with his thoughts. So what if he did like Terushima? It’s not like he returns those feelings.  _ What are you talking about? He flirts with you 24/7 _ , said a voice in the back of his head but he chose to ignore it. Once Daishou made it home he put his phone charging and went to take a shower. Once he finished he changed into more comfortable clothes and laid on his bed playing games on his phone until it was time for him to meet up with Terushima and the others. He walked to the bus stop and took the bus to a McDonald’s they all planned to meet at. Terushima, Daichi, Kita and Ushijima were already there by the time he got there.

“Hello again pretty boy!” Terushima exclaimed upon seeing Daishou. Daishou rolled his eyes and sat down next to Kita, and just happened to be across from Terushima.

“Hi Terushima,” Daishou greeted, he greeted the others and waited for Oikawa, Bokuto and Kuroo to show up. Once they did they ordered some food and hung out. Sakusa had something to do that daysi he wasn't able to come. About 30 minutes later, Terushima thought that going in the kids play area was good for someone who’s 18 years old, the gullible Bokuto and Oikawa followed him in doing so. What happened next? They got kicked out. This was going to be a fun night…


	2. The Bus Ride Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daishou and Terushima take the bus to Daishou's house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I hope you enjoy this chapter! I promise to try and update this as often as I can!! Also if you don't like the ship, just scroll away.

“You guys just had to go and get us kicked out?!” Daichi asked loudly, Terushima, Bokuto and Oikawa stood outside the McDonald’s drive thru getting scolded by Daichi, Daishou, Kuroo, Kita and Ushijima stood behind him.  
“Sorry Daichi,” the three boys said in unison each looking at the ground.  
“I don’t know why it’s such a shock anymore, they do this every time,” Kuroo added, shaking his head.  
“Yeah, but you’d think they’d learn,” Daichi said. For a few moments everyone stared at each other before they started laughing like maniacs.  
“You’d think they’d learn?!” Kuroo said through tears of laughter.  
“Honestly Daichi, nice joke,” Oikawa added, while trying to calm down. Once everyone calmed themselves down they made their way down the street, talking and laughing and just having a great time. At around 11pm everyone decided they better start heading home.  
“Can I walk you home Shou-san?” Terushima asked, walking up to Daishou.  
“I thought I told you to stop calling me that?” Daishou asked, already knowing that he did tell him to stop calling him that.  
“Yeah well I think it’s cute so too bad,” Terushima said pouting cutely. Daishou said, rolling his eyes.  
“Isn’t my house in the complete opposite direction of your house?” Daishou asked as he started walking to the bus stop, Terushima followed him.  
“Yeah, but I don’t care, I want to make sure you get home safely,” Terushima answered, smiling.  
“And why do you care whether I get home safely or not?” Daishou asked cluelessly.  
“Because I don’t want anyone ruining that pretty face,” Terushima answered, smiling his usual bright smile. Daishou looked across the street to hide his smile from Terushima. “What? Don’t like my reasoning?”  
“There’s nothing pretty about this face but whatever,” Daishou clarified, looking back in front of him and making a stop at the bus stop, waiting for the bus.  
“Your face is very pretty to me,” Terushima flirted, stopping next to Daishou.  
“You still don’t have to bring me home Terushima, I’ll be fine,” Daishou added.  
“Well I want to and you can’t stop me,” Terushima convinced. Daishou rolled his eyes.  
“Fine, do whatever you want, not my fault if you can’t find your way home,” Daishou addressed.  
“I’ll figure it out no need to worry about me!” Terushima burst, Daishou sighed.  
“Lower your voice you’re way too loud,” Daishou told him. “Anyways do you even have money for the bus?”  
“Yes I do!” Terushima replied, slightly more quiet. As the bus came down the street Daishou pulled out his wallet to get money, Terushima quickly followed. They entered the bus, paid and sat down in the back. Daishou sat down next to the window as Terushima sat next to him. Daishou’s bus ride home without traffic is usually 45 minutes to an hour long so he knew he was in for a ride, or so he thought. On the bus Terushima was pretty quiet, shockingly. Daishou played games on his phone until he felt some weight on his left shoulder. Daishou looked to his left and saw Terushima asleep on his shoulder. I guess he can get tired too, Daishou thought. Daishou put away his phone and sat there with an unnoticed, small blush on his cheeks. Once the bus was 2 stops away from his stop Daishou decided he better wake Terushima up.  
“Terushima,” Daishou whispered in his ear. Nothing. “Terushima,” Daishou whispered slightly louder, shaking his friend slightly. Nothing. “Teru,” Daishou said, more firm as he shook the latter. Terushima slowly opened his eyes and sat up.  
“Huh?” Terushima asked groggily, still not processing anything.  
“This is my stop,” Daishou replied softly, wiping the smirk off his own face. Terushima nodded standing up Daishou following him in his movements. Daishou hit the stop button to let the bus driver know to stop at this stop. Terushima and Daishou made their way to the front of the and when the bus stopped they hopped off the bus. Daishou checked the time, 12:30am, Daishou began to talk to his house which was still four blocks away.  
“How far is your house from here?” Terushima asked quietly.  
“Not too far, about four blocks,” Daishou answered, Terushima nodded. “Hey, how about you sleep at my place tonight? You’re clearly tired, you're not gonna be able to stay awake on your way home.”  
“Oh no, I’ll be fine, I told you not to worry about me,” Terushima responded quietly, not like his usual, cheerful self.  
“Terushima, you’re sleeping at my house, I hear it in your voice you’re exhausted. You can go back home tomorrow,” Daishou advised. Terushima sighed but nodded agreeing, because he knew himself he wouldn’t have lasted going home. They walked back to Daishou’s house in comfortable silence. Once arriving, Daishou quietly unlocked the door and took off his shoes Terushima too, taking off his shoes and placing them next to Daishou’. Terushima followed Daishou to his room quietly making sure neither of them woke up Daishou’s parents. Once they had safely made it into Daishou’s room they both let out breaths they didn’t know they were holding. Daishou put his phone charging.  
“I’m gonna get ready for bed, you can take some clothes from my dresser if you want, make yourself comfortable,” Daishou told him.  
“Thanks,” Terushima yawned, walking over to Daishou’s dresser.  
“Yeah, and my hoodies are in my closet if you want one,” Daishou added, walking into his bathroom and closing the door behind him. Terushima grabbed a pair of jogging pants he saw in the dresser drawer and then walked over the Daishou’s closet to see what hoodies he had. Taking his crush's hoodie for free? An opportunity he couldn’t pass up. Terushima opened the closet door and saw maybe 15 or more hoodies hung up. Terushima was shocked by the amount of hoodies Daishou had but quickly shook off the feeling and began looking through them. In total he counted 18 hoodies and who knew if there were more around the house. Terushima grabbed a yellow adidas hoodie off the hanger and then closed the closet door. Terushima began to take his shirt off, not having heard the bathroom door open and Daishou walk out. When Terushima’s shirt was off he noticed Daishou looking at him and smirked.  
“Like what you see?” Terushima asked flirtatiously. Daishou rolled his eyes, “You keep rolling your eyes and they’ll get stuck that way!”  
“You do know that’s not true right?” Daishou wondered.  
“Uh, duh of course I knew that,” Terusima replied, rolling his eyes sarcastically, clearly not knowing that what his mom constantly told him was a lie. Daishou laughed slightly and Terushima smiled. Terushima put Daishou’s hoodie on and then took the jogging pants in his hand and went to the bathroom to change into them and to wash his face. Daishou breathed out heavily, his face slowly becoming flustered. Why did I offer him to sleep over? He thought, oh wait maybe because you liked him and didn’t want him getting lost, a voice in the back of his head responded. He rolled his eyes to himself and got changed into a hoodie and sweatpants, the same thing he always wore to go to sleep. When Terushima walked out of the bathroom wearing Daishou’s hoodie and jogging pants he couldn’t help but acknowledge how good he looked in it. Daishou didn’t know why he liked the yellow hoodie so much but when shopping his mind just told him to buy it, but now he thought he knew why.  
“Where should I sleep?” Terushima asked, putting the clothes in his hands down in the corner of Daishou’s room by the door.  
“Wherever you want,” Daishou replied. “Well anywhere but the floor.”  
“So your bed basically?” Terushima asked, smirking slightly.  
“Don’t go getting any ideas, you can sleep on the floor if you to so badly,” Daishou added, sitting on his bed going on his phone.  
“I was joking, don’t make me sleep on the floor Shou-san,” Terushima whined.  
“Then don’t sleep on the floor,” Daishou replied, not looking up from his phone. “Do you need to charge your phone?”  
“Yes please,” Terushima replied, making his way over to Daishou’s bed. On his way to Daishou’s bed, Terushima sees a snake on Daishou’s bedside table. “Woah you have a snake?!”  
“Huh? Oh yeah, his name’s Shima,” Daishou replied, looking up from his phone and looking at the case his snake was in. Terushima walked over to it and admired it.  
“Cute name,” Terushima said.  
“Do you wanna pet it?” Daishou questioned. Terushima’s eyes brightened.  
“Can I?!” Terushima asked excitedly. Daishou nodded and stood up and walked over to Terushima, he opened the top of the case where Shima was in and took the snake out. The snake slithered around Daishou’s neck resting there, smelling him with his tongue. Terushima softly pet the snake admiring it. Daishou smiled softly.  
“Here,” Daishou said, as he took the snake off from around his neck and put him around Terushima’s neck. “And you just hold it like this,” Daishou added, as he took the latter’s hands and moved them to where they should be. Terushima’s eyes shined in the lowly lit room, his smile seemed brighter than anything in the world. Terushima looked at Daishou while smiling, Daishou shot him a small smile.  
“Grab my phone out of my pocket and take a picture,” Terushima said, as he said this Shima started exploring Terushima’s pockets. “Dang, nevermind.”  
“I’ll take the picture on my phone,” Daishou said, taking out his phone from his pocket and swiping right to open the camera. Terushima smiled and did a little pose and Daishou took the picture. After a few minutes Daishou took Shima off of Terushima and put him back in the case to let him sleep. Terushima put his phone charging and waited for Daishou to get in his bed before he sat on the other side. They both got under the covers. Daishou sent a goodnight text to Mika, while Terushima sent one to his parents also letting them know where he is.  
“Goodnight Daishou,” Terushima yawned as he rolled onto his side. Daishou turned off the light and his phone and rolled onto his side.  
“Goodnight Terushima.”


	3. 3:30pm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terushima meets Daishou's parents and it doesn't go as smoothly as it could've.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i hope you enjoy this chapter!! also a reminder, if you don't like the ship just scroll away.

The next morning, Daishou woke up to the sound of the shower going. He looked next to him and saw Terushima wasn’t there, so he assumed he was in the shower. He rubbed his eyes, took his phone off his bedside table and checked the time. 12:30pm. He slept in later than he usually did but didn’t care. After a few minutes the sound of the shower stopped and Terushima walked out with only a towel around his waist.

“Morning sleepyhead,” Terushima said smiling.

“Morning,” Daishou replied softly. Terushima grabbed his phone and looked at his notifications. “You gonna put some clothes on or stay naked?”  
Terushima laughed slightly, “I know you want to see what’s under the towel,” he flirted.

“No I really don’t,” Daishou replied, putting his head in his hand shaking it softly. Terushima laughed and went back into the bathroom to get changed into the clothes he had slept in. Daishou sighed and stood up, grabbed some food for his snake and put it in the case where Shima was. Daishou watched him eat his food for a few minutes until he heard his bathroom door open once more. Terushima walked out again and yawned.

“When did you wake up?” Daishou asked.

“Around 12pm” Terushima replied, sitting on the latter’s bed. Daishou nodded and went into the bathroom to get ready for the day even though he didn’t really plan on doing anything. He texted Mika good morning, much to her surprise knowing he never woke up at this hour but she didn’t push for answers. Daishou walked out of the bathroom and saw Terushima looking at Shima again.

“Come on, we should head downstairs and say good morning to my parents,” Daishou blurted out, after he stared at Terushima for a few seconds. Terushima nodded, turning his attention to the dark haired male. Daishou opened his door and started walking down the stairs, Terushima following closely behind him. When Daishou couldn’t find his parents in the living room he went to the kitchen where he saw a note on the counter.

_Good morning sweetheart,_   
_Your father and I were called into work for an emergency surgery, we’ll be back home in time for dinner. There’s food in the fridge if you want to make yourself something or there’s my wallet in my purse if you want to order something._   
_Love, mom_

Daishou threw out the note and sat down at his kitchen table. Terushima sat next to him confused.

“Where are your parents?” Terushima asked, looking around the room as if expecting them to show up out of nowhere.

“They had to go into work for an emergency surgery. They'll be home later today,” Daishou replied, to which Terushima nodded.

“So what you’re saying is that we’re home alone?” Terushima jested with a smirk on his face.

“Oh don’t you start getting any nasty ideas,” Daishou replied, rolling his eyes sarcastically. “If you want food you can either cook,” with this pointed at the oven, “or order something.”

Terushima nodded. “Want pizza?” he asked Daishou, to which the latter shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t care what we get,” Daishou replied. Terushima pulled out his phone and called the pizza place. Once he finished ordering it he and Daishou walked over to the living room and sat on the couch watching tv until they heard the doorbell ring. Daishou stood up and went to the door, taking his moms’ wallet from her purse. Daishou paid for the pizza, put the wallet away and walked back over to the living room putting the pizza box on the coffee table.

“What do you want to drink?” Daishou asked Terushima as he made his way to the kitchen.

“What do you have?” Terushima wondered as he followed Daishou into the kitchen. Daishou opened the fridge and started naming the drinks he saw.

“Water, iced tea, ginger ale, seven up and gatorade.”

“I’ll have a seven up,” Terushima answered while looking for the pizza cutter and smiled when he found it. Daishou nodded and grabbed a can of seven up and a bottle of iced tea for himself. Daishou followed Terushima to the living and he placed the drinks on coasters careful to not get the table stained.

“You could give Sakusa a run for his money with how clean this place is,” Terushima teased. Daishou rolled his eyes.

“Very funny,” Daishou spat through gritted teeth. “This is what you get for living with surgeons for parents.”

“Is it not fun having surgeons as parents?” Terushima wondered. “Do they not tell you what type of stuff they see everyday?”

“That’s all they ever talk about,” Daishou explained. “They could care less about what happens in my life. They don’t like that I’m so focused on volleyball, they want me to follow in their footsteps into becoming a surgeon like them but I don't want to be one.”

Terushima frowned, “That’s not very cool of them to force their opinions on you.”

“Yeah I know I’m not fond of it either,” Daishou sighed. “But that’s not important, is everything good at your home?”

“Uh, yeah it’s fine, the same it always is, chaotic.” Terushima said laughing slightly. “I don’t think you’d like how loud it is there.”

Daishou showed a small smile but it went away quickly as he heard a car pull up in the driveway. Terushima noticed this and looked towards the door.

“They weren’t supposed to come back until dinner,” Daishou said, rushing to take everything off the coffee table. “Quick move everything to the kitchen table and wipe down the coffee table.”

Terushima nodded, mostly confused but he obeyed. He helped Daishou quickly move everything onto the kitchen table and wipe down the coffee table. Just as they sat down at the kitchen table pretending they had been there the whole time, Daishou’s parents came in through the front door.

“Hello sweetheart- oh who is this? I wasn’t aware someone was coming over today?” Daishou’s mom said as she took off the jacket and hung it up on the coat hanger.

“Sorry mom, this is Terushima he stayed over last night because we got home a little late, I was going to let you know when I saw you this morning but you weren’t here,” Daishou answered, his voice stern.

“Oh hello Terushima, that’s alright sweetheart, I see you guys decided to order something.” she replied with a soft yet direct voice.

“Oh yeah, I woke up a little late and didn't feel like cooking,” he replied once more trying to finish the conversation. Daishou took a slice of pizza and began to eat it, Terushima doing the same thing.

“Tell us about yourself, Terushima!” Daishou’s dad beamed.

“Oh, um,” Terushima finished chewing his pizza before continuing what he was saying. “I go to Johzenji High, not too far from here actually, um I’m captain of the volleyball team there and-” Daishou’s dad sighed at his last remark.

“Another volleyball fanatic,” Daishou’s dad snarled.

“Dad-” Daishou said, trying to stop his father from making any more remarks.

“It’s not like you guys can make a profession out of it so why do it?” Daishou’s father questioned.

“I can actually make a profession out of it, it’s just my choice whether I do or don’t, and I think you should let your son decide what he wants to do in the future too.” Terushima spat out, taking a sip of his seven up. Daishou’s mouth hung open as his dad started to become angry.

“You dare come into my house, and try to tell me what to do to MY son?” Daishou’s dad hissed at Terushima.

“I’m just saying he has a right to do what he pleases in the future, whether you’re proud of him or not,” Terushima snapped back at him.

“Do you feel this way too Suguru?!” Daishou’s father demanded. Daishou stayed silent looking down at his pizza. Daishou’s father grunted. “Get out of my house.”

“What?” Daishou questioned.

“Not you, your friend here, Terushima, what’s your first name boy?” Daishou’s father barked at him.

“That’s not any of your concern Mr. Daishou,” Terushima replied snarkily, as he stood up from his seat, Daishou’s eyes followed him. “Excuse me, let me grab my things and I’ll be out of your hair.”

“And don’t you plan on ever coming back here,” Daishou’s father spat. Terushima didn’t answer, instead he made his way up the stairs.

“Dad seriously?!” Daishou asked angrily. He didn’t stay for an answer. He stood up, grabbed his and Terushimas’ phones and sped up the stairs to his room. When Daishou got to his room he saw Terushima searching through his pockets for his phone. He looked up to the door and when he saw Daishou standing there he smiled. Daishou entered his room and closed the door behind him. “Looking for this?” Daishou asked as he gave Terushima his phone.

“Yeah, thanks,” Terushima replied happily, attempting to take his phone from Daishou’s hand except Daishou didn’t let go.

“Why’d you do that?” Daishou asked the latter fiercely.

“Someone had to since you clearly weren’t going to,” Terushima responded, struggling to take his phone from Daishou. Daishou’s mouth hung open for a split second but he quickly closed it knowing Terushima was saying the truth. “Come on! Give me my phone!”

“Fine,” Daishou sighed as he let go of the phone, causing Terushima to stumble backwards not expecting Daishou to let go so quickly.

“Well um, I should get going,” Terushima said, frowning slightly.

“Do you know how to get home?” Daishou asked. Terushima shook his head and opened an app that told him ways to get to his house by using public transport depending on where he is. He and Daishou looked over it and found the easiest way for Terushima to get home. “I’ll walk you to the train station.”

“Sure,” Terushima agreed, nodding his head.

“Here,” Daishou said as he grabbed an extra backpack he had, “put your stuff in here.”

“Oh no it’s fine I’ll hold it,” Terushima protested, but Daishou was already putting Terushima’s things in the bag not taking no for an answer. Daishou gave the latter the bag when he was finished putting everything in the bag. Terushima grabbed it and put it on his shoulder. Daishou and Terushima walked down the stairs, Daishou’s parents were in the living room, Daishou quickly snuck past them into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water for Terushima. When he got back to Terushima he gave him the bottle, which he took, and they made their way to the door.

“Suguru, stay here, I’m sure the boy can find his way home on his own,” Daishou’s dad said, not turning around from his seat.

“No, I’m going to go walk him to the train station and then I’m going to meet up with Mika,” Daishou lied.

“I said you’re staying here, this isn’t a debate.” Daishou’s father spat.

“I said, I’m walking him to the train station and meeting up with Mika after.” Daishou said once more and then opened the door letting Terushima out. Terushima walked out of the house followed by Daishou who slammed the door behind him. As they made their way down the street a tabby cat showed up in their path, to which Terushima immediately went to pet it.

“You like cats?” Daishou asked.

“Love them,” Terushima admitted. “Sadly I can’t get one of my own since my mom’s allergic but that’s ok!” For a few minutes they walked in silence until Terushima asked something.

“I didn’t know you were going to meet up with Mika?”

“Oh I’m not, I just said that because I don’t feel like being at home right now,” Daishou admitted.

“Oh, is that my fault? I’m sorry,” Terushima said pouting.

“No it’s not your fault don’t worry! I just want a break from being home all day,” Daishou clarified, making Terushima smile again. Daishou quickly checked the time on his phone, 4:30pm, he and Terushima made their way down to the train station talking and occasionally checking their phones. When they made it to the train station they made their way to the ticket barrier. “Well bye.”

“Mhm, thank you for the fun day!” Terushima exclaimed. Terushima hugged Daishou to which Daishou squirmed. Terushima quickly let go when feeling Daishou squirm. “Oh no I’m sorry, I forgot you don’t like to be hugged.”

“It’s fine,” Daishou replied. “You should get going or you’ll miss your train.”

“Oh yeah!” Terushima realized. “Bye!!” Daishou waved goodbye.

“Watch where you’re going!” Daishou reminded the latter, making Terushima laugh sarcastically.

“See you soon pretty boy!!” Terushima exclaimed as he began to run to his train. Daishou turned around and started walking back to the front of the station. He walked around the neighborhood for a bit and went to a small coffee shop and got himself a cup of coffee and a cookie and then sat down at a table by the window. He ate his cookie and drank his coffee in peace. Terushima texted him that he was home at around 6pm, so he decided to go and walk around the neighborhood some more. He didn’t plan on returning home anytime soon, but what could he do until 10:30pm? He texted the group chat asking if anyone was in the neighborhood, when Sakusa and Ushijima said they were, they decided to meet up at a convenience store. Upon seeing them, Sakusa gave everyone a mask which Ushjima and Daishou put on knowing that their friend highly detested germs.

“What are you guys even doing in this part of town?” Daishou questioned.

“Oh, well I had just finished meeting up with someone for a school project,” Sakusa replied, twisting the truth slightly. To this Daishou nodded.

“I was with Tendou,” replied Ushijima plainly. The three continued to talk and walk around until 10pm when Daishou said his goodbyes and parted ways. Daishou began his walk home, he didn’t rush but he didn’t walk slow either. When he arrived at home it was around 10:45pm, but just to be safe Daishou entered through the back door which was closest to the stairs. When he was inside he took off his shoes and brought them with him upstairs into his room. After that very exhausting day, Daishou took a shower, got ready for bed and texted his friends good night. He then turned off his lights and went to sleep.


	4. A Run Around the Neighborhood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terushima goes out for a run and encounters some people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: HOMOPHOBIA, VIOLENCE, MENTION OF BLOOD
> 
> PLS FORGIVE THIS SHITTY AND SHORT CHAPTER I WAS BUZZED WHILE WRITING HALF OF THIS

For the rest of the weekend Daishou avoided his parents as best as he could, which was easy as they were hardly home. Daishou completed his homework, as did Terushima. Daishou and Terushima did their homework on facetime, Terushima getting easily distracted by how Daishou looked when he was so focused on something. Terushima noticed that Daishou’s tongue would stick out whenever he was stuck on a tough question or was in deep thought, he thought it was cute. They worked on their homework for another hour until Terushima heard his siblings fighting down in the living room. They said their goodbyes and hung up the phone.Terushima went downstairs to see what was going on when he found his brother and sister playing tug of war with the TV remote. 

“IT’S MY TURN YOU HAD IT LAST TIME,” his younger sister, Yuuki screamed at Terushima’s younger brother Yaketsuku, who they call Suku for short.

“I DON’T CARE MY SHOW IS ABOUT TO START THAT I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR FOR OVER A MONTH!” Yaketsuku explained.

“I DON’T CARE JUST RECORD IT! IT’S MY TURN!!” Yuuki snapped.

“OI!” Terushima called to them, making them lose their balance and fall over as they looked at Terushima, causing him to laugh. “Why don’t you guys do rock, paper, scissors, best 2 out of 3? Whoever wins gets the TV for right now, and then after dinner the other one gets it.”

Yuuki and Suku looked at each other and then began their game of rock paper scissors, Yuuki won the first round paper to rock, Suku won the second, scissors to paper. They tied for a few and then finally Yuuki won, rock to scissors. 

“Ha!” Yuuki declared in victory, don’t worry I’ll record your show so you can watch it later.”

“Thanks,” Suku breathed sadly, he walked away into the kitchen to get himself something to eat. “Yuuji, why’d you even come downstairs?” 

“I heard fighting so I thought I’d help sort it out,” Terushima replied, following the latter into the kitchen. Suku and Terushima heard Yuuki turn on the TV to her show as they made their way to the cupboard to get some food. Terushima and Suku made some popcorn for Yuuji and themselves and Terushima brought his share upstairs to his room while Suku stayed in the kitchen and went on his phone. Terushima closed the door to his room and finished whatever work he had to do next and then watched a show on his laptop until his parents came back from the shop. 

“Yuuji! Come help with the bags!” his mother called out from downstairs.

“Coming!” Terushima replied, paused his show and came down the stairs to help. Once he finished helping he helped his dad prepare dinner and then went back downstairs to continue his show. 

“YUUJI DINNER’S READY!” Suku shouted from the dining room.

“COMING!” he shouted back, as he put his laptop charging on his desk and made his way downstairs. His siblings had already set the table, so he realized he would have to do the dishes. He washed his hands and sat down where he usually did to eat, and then waited for everyone else. 

“Thanks for the food,” he said when everyone was seated, everyone followed after him and they began to eat. They had small conversations, Terushima not really joining in, and finished their meal slowly. Suku was the first to finish his meal so he excused himself, put his dishes in the sink and then ran to the living room where he began his show. Terushima was the last to finish, when he did he immediately began doing the dishes.

“Yuuji, you alright?” his mom asked, scaring him slightly because he didn’t hear her.

“AH! Oh yeah don’t worry I’m fine!” he replied, after calming himself down.

“I doubt that, but feel free to talk to me if you need to sweetie,” his mom reminded him. Terushima nodded and continued what he was doing. Once he finished he went to his room to change into some shorts and a t-shirt.

“Going on a run!” Terushima called as he made his way to the front door. “Be back later!” 

“Alright sweetie be care-” his mom replied but Terushima cut her off.

“Be careful, bla bla bla, yeah I know don’t worry.” Terushima left closing the door behind him. Terushima turned on his music in his headphones and started his run. He ran for about an hour when he saw something in front of him so he stopped. 

“Hello?” he asked, pausing his music. There was no response, only the crickets. Terushima looked around but didn’t see anything. He began to walk forward cautiously until he heard a sound from behind him making him turn sharply. Behind him he saw a group of 7 people standing there which he knew wasn’t there before. 

“Well, well, well if it isn’t the fag of the Miyagi Prefecture,” said the muscular one in the center, the boss Terushima decided.

“Huh?” Terushima questioned idiotically.

“And he’s dumb too,” said the tallest one, to the left of who Terushima assumed was the boss. The others around the two laughed slightly.

“Silence,” the boss demanded, which they did. “Why are you out here? All alone in the middle of the night?”

“I was on a run?” Terushima answered as if it wasn’t obvious. The group stepped closer starting to surround themselves around Terushima. Terushima stayed where he was not daring to move, because he knew if he did it would end worse than it already would. Did Terushima have experience in fighting people? Not really, unless you count small little play fights with his friends. Why were they picking on him? He didn’t know why they were trying to hurt him but that didn’t matter right now. “If you’ll excuse me I actually got places to be.”

“I don’t think so,” the boss laughed as Terushima tried to walk away. “You’ve got to be taught a lesson for being what you are.”

“What I am?” Terushima asked, but then he remembered what the guy had called him. A fag. “Oh.”

“Ah, so the fag finally gets what we were talking about,” said the shortest of the group.

“Shut it Aoi!” the boss snapped. “No one’s forgiven you for last week!” Aoi stayed quiet. “As I was saying,” he continued, glaring at Aoi. “You need to be taught a lesson.”

“A lesson just because I want to love who I want to love?!” Terushima snapped. The boss was taken aback, most people would be shaking in the shoes right now seeing a group of 7 big guys trying to hurt them, but Terushima was different.

“A lesson!” the boss continued. “For being a disgrace to the world!”

“I hope you realize that like 90% of this prefecture is a part of the LGBTQ+ community but whatever,” Terushima answered.

“We’ll deal with them soon enough,” the boss answered. “Right now we finally found you, the biggest one of all.”

“AW!” Terushima exclaimed, confusing the others. “You think I have a big dick?! I could show it to you if you-” 

Terushima tried to finish his sentence but he was cut off by someone kicking him in the back. Terushima had forgotten there were people behind him.

“Haku!” the boss shouted. “What have I told you about me always getting the first hit?!”

“Sorry it was just taking too long,” Haku replied. The boss rolled his eyes as Terushima began to stand up but Haku put his foot on his back making him stay down. Terushima grunted as Haku stepped harder making it harder for him to breathe, but he tried not to show his struggling as that would only give them satisfaction. 

The boss walked forward and crouched down to Terushima’ face. “Guess little pretty boy won’t be so pretty when we’re done with him,” the boss said talking to his group more than him. The boss stood up and kicked Terushima in the face, giving him a nose bleed. Terushima showed no pain, his face felt numb. 

“Aw,” Terushima spat out. “You think I’m pretty?” 

Terushima got another kick in the face. “Be a good little fag and shut up,” the tallest of the group said.

“Sasuke would you shut it!” the boss exclaimed. Haku kept his foot on Terushima’ back, keeping him down. Sasuke stayed quiet but didn’t look as beaten down as Aoi had. The seven took turns kicking Terushima in the face, head, back, basically anywhere where they could hurt him. Haku brought Terushima to his feet and restrained his arms as people started punching and kicking him in the stomach until Terushima began to cough blood. Terushima felt stupid and worthless not being able to fight back against these guys. He felt weak. 

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!” that was all Terushima heard before he was dropped to the ground and passed out.


	5. The Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terushima wakes up in the hospital after 2 weeks, everyone is worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: MENTION OF HOMOPHOBIA AND VIOLENCE!!!

“Is he alright?”  
“What happened?”  
“Come on sweetie, wake up for momma.”  
“Yuuji please. We’re all scared.”  
“Yuuji come on, wake up there’s so much left for you to conquer in this world.”

Terushima was confused, he could hear people’ voices but he couldn’t see them. He heard his siblings sobbing and his mom trying to get him to, what did she say? Wake up? 

“Terushima please wake up,” he heard a familiar voice say, not any voice. Daishou’s voice. “For me.” he heard Daishou whisper. Terushima didn’t know what he was waking up from, but he assumed it was a coma. 

Terushima’s eyes began to flutter open. He looked to his right and saw his friends, Daichi, Ushijima, Oikawa, Bokuto, Kita, Kuroo and even Sakusa asleep, their heads either slumped forwards or on another’s shoulder. He couldn’t see Daishou which gave Terushima a small pout on his face. He could’ve sworn he heard him before. He looked to his left and saw someone holding his hand. It was a small hand but he couldn’t make out who it was due to the poor lighting, but he assumed it was his sister. Next to, who he assumed was his sister, sat another smaller person, he guessed it was his brother. Terushima couldn’t see any other human figure on his left side. He questioned where his parents were for a moment until he heard the sound of people talking outside his door. 

“I”m sorry Madame but we do not know when your son will wake up, it is a medically induced coma so it shouldn’t be long,” the sound of a young woman said, either a nurse or a doctor. Terushima heard his mom give a loud sigh.

“I just wished he could wake up sooner,” Terushima’s mom sighed.

Terushima decided to ignore the discussion outside and look around his hospital room. Didn’t I hear him whisper to me asking me to wake up for him? Well I’m here but where is he? Terushima continued to ponder until he saw a movement at the bottom of his bed. Terushima hadn’t even thought to look down there. He saw the figure lift his head and with the small light coming from the hallway outside he realized who it was. It was Daishou. Terushima moved slightly but felt pain when he did so. Daishou rubbed his eyes, cute Terushima thought. Daishou looked straight at Terushima with a frown at first, until he realized Terushima was awake.

“Terushima,” Daishou whispered, not wanting to wake anyone. “You’re awake? For how long? Are you feeling ok?”

Daishou continued to bombard Terushima with questions, to which Terushima tried to answer but couldn’t find his voice. Daishou sat next to Terushima on the bed. Daishou took a cup of water that was beside them on the small table and gave it to Terushima. Terushima drank from it feeling refreshed. 

“I’m… o-ok n-now,” Terushima said, basically a whisper. 

“That’s good,” Daishou replied quietly. They stayed in a comfortable silence. The conversation in the hallway had ended, but no one entered. Terushima heard Daishou’s soft snores, making it known he had fallen asleep. Terushima looked out the window on his right and saw the sun starting to rise. He let the sun hit up against his face until he heard someone open the door. He looked to his left and saw his mom enter. When she saw that Terushima was awake she smiled and rushed out of the room, to get a doctor he assumed. When she came back, she was followed by Terushima’s dad, a man and a woman.

“Hello, I’m your doctor, Dr. Hansuke,” the male introduced himself. “And this is,”

“Dr. Okimi,” the female answered. “I’m an intern here.” Terushima nodded slightly. They did what regular doctors do, they checked Terushima’s vitals, his reflexes, etc. They did this quietly as it was 6 in the morning and they didn’t want the others who were sleeping there to wake up.

“You’re able to leave anytime today if you want to,” Dr Hansuke stated. "But I hear you do volleyball and I have to tell you to not do any physical activities that involve a lot of running or jumping, so you musn’t play for a few days until you’re fully healed.”

“What? No, I have to keep playing interhigh-preliminaries are just around the corner!” Terushima protested. “We have to do well in them!” 

“Yuuji calm down, think about yourself for a second,” Terushima’s mom said.

“I don’t care, my job as captain is to drive them to victory!” Terushima exclaimed. “If I can’t practice I won’t be able to do that!” 

“Yuuji that’s enough.” Terushima’s father said sternly. “This isn’t a debating matter, you’re not going to practice for the next 3 days.”

“But-” Terushima began to say.

“He’s right Terushima,” Daishou interjected. “You need to heal and then you’ll be able to play even better.” 

Terushima crossed his arms over his chest and slumped back on the bed. On that note the doctors left, Terushima’s parents followed to sign papers and other things. 

“Sorry for waking you up,” Terushima apologized.

“Don’t worry about it,” Daishou replied, getting up from off the bed. Daishou made his way to the door when Teurushima asked him something.

“How long?”

“What?” Daishou questioned.

“How long have I been in a coma?” Terushima asked looking out the window. Daishou took a deep breath before replying.

“2 weeks.” 

Terushima shook his head in disbelief.

“2 weeks?” Terushima mumbled his mouth hanging open, Daishou nodded and closed the door gently. Daishou and Terushima went on their phones, Terushima to let his friends know he was ok and Daishou to play some games to pass time. After a few hours everyone started to wake up.

“Yuuji!” Yuuki and Suku exclaimed in unison and jumped onto the bed to hug their brother. Terushima smiled at them as they filled him in on everything that happened at home and at their school. Terushima and his siblings played some games on Terushima’ phone until Terushima’ parents came inside to get Yuuki and Suku. 

“We’ll wait for you at home,” his mom proclaimed. “Come back whenever you’re ready.” Terushima nodded as his parents and his siblings walked out the door.

Slowly the rest of Terushima' and Daishou’ friends woke up.

“Thank god Daichi and Oikawa saw you when they did,” Kuroo stated.

“Oh,” Terushima said calmly. “You guys found me?”

Oikawa and Daichi nodded. “I was on a walk and saw Daichi-san, so we walked together. We heard people talking as we turned the corner and then saw what those guys were doing to you so we screamed at them and they dropped you. We called the police and an ambulance, but by the time the police got there they had ran.” Oikawa explained. 

“Who were they?” Bokuto asked. “And why were they beating you up?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Terushima murmured. 

“Doesn’t matter?” Daishou asked rhetorically. “Terushima, you could’ve died!” 

Terushima stayed quiet and didn’t meet Daishou’ eyes. They stayed quiet for a few moments.

“When do you get to go home?” Kita asked, wiping down his phone with disinfectant, Sakusa doing the same.

“Anytime today,” Terushima replied quietly.

“That’s good,” Ushjima said awkwardly, breaking the small silence. Terushima looked out the window, soaking up the view.

“I have to get going,” Sakusa spoke after a few minutes of silence. He stood up and made his way to the door. “See you guys Friday.”

Slowly everyone but Daishou and Terushima left the room. At around 5:00pm, Terushima decided he best start going home now. Daishou helped him get his things together. They made their way to the front door, and finally outside. Terushima breathed in the warm Spring air, he smiled slightly. 

“Isn’t it amazing?” Terushima asked Daishou happily.

“What is?” Daishou wondered.

“Springtime,” Terushima replied with the biggest smile plastered across his face. Daishou looked at Terushima and gave a small smile, but went back to his regular face when he got closer to Terushima. 

“Come on,” Daishou stated. “I’ll bring you home.” 

“No it’s ok I’ll be fine on my own,” Terushima assured.

“No, I’m bringing you home,” Daishou said convincingly. Terushima sighed but then nodded following Daishou to the bus stop.

Once they got on the bus they sat all the way in the back. After a few moments of silence Daishou asked a question he’d been longing to ask.

“Terushima,” Daishou began. “What happened that night?”

Terushima looked at Daishou knowing that if he did he’d say everything. And that’s exactly what he did, he explained how he had gone out for a run and that they showed up out of nowhere. Terushima explained how they had called him a fag, and how they began to beat him up, and how he wasn’t able to defend himself. Explaining it felt like going through the nightmare all over again, but by telling the person he truly loved, Terushima felt better. The next thing Daishou did completely shocked Terushima.

He hugged him. 

Feeling Daishou’s protective arms around Terushima made him burst into tears. Daishou said nothing but that’s exactly what Terushima wanted. He just wanted the latter to hold him tight and never let go. Though he knew Daishou would soon let go he liked to think that this could last forever. Having Daishou hold Terushima the way he did, made Terushima feel like this is one of the things he’d been longing for for ages. Which it was. From the moment Terushima had ever laid eyes on Daishou, he knew he was the most beautiful person in the world. Terushima attempted to flirt with him but he was quickly shut down. Terushima never stopped, he kept pinning on him constantly, even now. But that didn’t matter at this moment, all he wanted to do right now was cry until he couldn’t cry anymore.

Daishou on the other hand, simply didn’t know what to say so he said nothing. Hearing Terushima cry as much as he did broke Daishou, no one should be treated this way just because of who they love. Daishou suddenly felt blessed he kept what he loved to himself, or at least he attempted to. He hugged Terushima, as he wasn’t too sure what to do, but he felt that was the right thing. They stayed like that until Terushima stopped crying which was around 25 minutes later. They got some stares but Daishou just glared at them until they looked away. 

“You ok?” Daishou whispered in Terushima’ ear. Terushima nodded and wiped the remaining tears from his eyes. 

“Thank you,” Terushima whispered. Daishou just nodded and remained silent, lost in his own worries.

Why do people feel the need to hurt people just because of a preference? And it’s not like Terushima only likes guys, he likes everyone. What if whenever, or if ever, I come out people will treat me how they did Terushima?

“Daishou!” Terushima exclaimed as he stood up, shaking Daishou out of his thoughts. “This is my stop.”

Daishou nodded, stood up and grabbed his things as Terushima grabbed his. They got off the bus and began the 3 block walk to Terushima’ house in comfortable silence.

“Thanks for walking me home,” Terushima thanked as he walked up to his front door and took out his keys. Daishou nodded and took out his phone to check the time, 6:30pm, Daishou sighed as he knew his parents would be mad at him for being out so late visiting Terushima in the hospital but he’d deal with them later he thought. 

“What is it?” Terushima asked as he took out his phone to check the time to see why Daishou had sighed.

“Nothing,” Daishou responded. “My parents will just be mad at me for going to visit you for so long.” 

“Oh,” Terushima said. “But I suppose you wouldn’t mind being a bit later?”

“Huh?” Daishou questioned but then he realized what Terushima was implying. “Oh no! I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“But you wouldn’t be intruding!” Terushima exclaimed. “Think of it as my thanks for letting me sleep over the other day.”

Daishou sighed knowing he wouldn’t be able to get out of this, plus he wanted to meet Terushima’s family for himself. 

“Fine,” Daishou said defeatedly after some time. Terushima smiled widely as he unlocked the door walking inside Daishou following after him.


	6. Superstitions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner in the Terushima household.

“SUKU IT’S MY TURN TO HAVE THE GOOD SEAT!” Yuuki complained as Terushima and Daishou entered the house.

“NO YOU HAD IT LAST NIGHT!” Suku protested. Terushima smiled at the chaos that was his house. He put his bag down as did Daishou and they took off their shoes. 

“Oh, Yuuji you’re home!” Terushima’ mom exclaimed. Suku and Yuuki stopped bickering and looked towards the front door. Terushima waved and Daishou stood awkwardly behind him.

“Oh mom I think you met him already but this is my friend Daishou,” Terushima introduced, stepping to the side to show Daishou to his family. Daishou waved and then played with his hands. Terushima moved back in front of Daishou noticing his signs of nervousness. Daishou smiled slightly.

“Oh yes, I remember you!” Terushima’ dad exclaimed. “You were there every day that Yuuji was in the hospital!”

Terushima felt a slight heat go up to his cheeks. Daishou was now very thankful that Terushima stood in front of him blocking his flustered face from view. 

“I was thinking he could join us for dinner?” Terushima suggested. “I mean the other night he let me sleep over cause it was really late.”

Daishou was glad Terushima decided not to mention the fact that Daishou noticed he was exhausted and wouldn’t have stayed awake on his way home. 

“Oh of course!” Terushima’ mom exclaimed. “And  _ he _ can have the good chair since he’s our guest.” 

Daishou realized she was glaring at Terushima’ younger siblings.

“Oh no that’s fine,” Daishou blurted out. “I don’t have to sit there if someone really wants to.”

“No it’s fine don’t worry about it,” Terushima stated as he walked toward the table. Suku went to grab a spare chair from another room while everyone else sat at the table. 

“Daishou, this is Yuuki my little sister.” Terushima stated as we sat down. Yuuki waved at Daishou to which Daishou gave a small smile. “And this is Yaketsuku, but we call him Suku. He’s my little brother.” 

“Hi!” Suku and Yuuki exclaimed, waving.

“Hi,” Daishou replied shyly, waving back slightly.

Terushima’s parents brought out the food, which was sushi. Everyone said their thanks and began to eat. It took an hour in total for everyone to finish their food. They had engaged in kind conversations, which Terushima and Daishou didn’t really say much. Daishou helped Terushima with the dishes and Terushima somehow convinced Daishou to stay a bit longer, even though he probably shouldn’t have, considering how long it would take Daishou to get home. Terushima and Daishou hung out in Terushima’ room for a while before Daishou decided it was best to go home. Daishou said goodbye and got his stuff by the door. He put on his shoes and Terushima walked him to the sidewalk.

“Bye!” Terushima said enthusiastically. Daishou smiled slightly.

“Bye,” Daishou replied. “Terushima please don’t do any volleyball for the next three days.”

Terushima sighed, “Fine but only because you asked so nicely.”

Daishou rolled his eyes and playfully hit Terushima’ shoulder. “See you Friday.” 

“Friday is so far away,” Terushima groaned like a child who didn’t get the toy they asked their parents for.

“It’s not that far, calm down,” Daishou laughed. Terushima smiled upon hearing Daishou laughed. “Ok now for real, bye.”

“Bye!” 

Daishou walked away waving bye towards Terushima. He made his way towards the train station where it should take approximately an hour and half to get home. At that moment it was already 9:00pm, by the time he got home his parents would most likely be furious. Having already slept over in Terushima’ hospital room the night before and eating dinner at his house, all without telling his parents ahead of time, they would either be worried sick or so angry they wouldn’t talk to him for a week again. Being alone with his thoughts is something Daishou didn’t like, but sometimes he couldn’t help himself. 

_ If I told anyone about how I feel about myself, would they accept me for who I am or will they be like the guys Terushima had to deal with? And if they were like the guys Terushima dealt with, where would I go? I didn’t choose to love who I love so why are there always people who just have to push their sexuality on others?  _

Daishou shook himself out of his thoughts as he took out his keys and unlocked the door. Upon entering the house, it was quiet. His parents must’ve been asleep, so he took off his shoes and jacket and made his way up to his room. He fed his snake and took a shower before getting ready for bed. He heard a ding on his phone as he finished putting on his clothes.

**_[Terushima] Hey did you get home safe? (10:41pm)_ **

**_[Daishou] Yeah I did, don’t worry (10:45pm)_ **

**_[Terushima] Kk just making sure (10:46pm)_ **

**_[Terushima] Goodnight Daishou (10:50pm)_ **

**_[Daishou] Goodnight (10:51pm)_ **

**_[Terushima] Aw, you want me to have a good night? (10:52pm)_ **

**_[Daishou] Haha night loser (10:54pm)_ **

**_[Terushima] Night pretty boy (10:55pm)_ **

Daishou put his phone charging and turned off his lights. Daishou stayed awake for a bit longer staring at his ceiling lost in his thoughts once more.

_ It’s not like I chose to like guys. I just do. I can’t help myself if all I do is imagine a future with him and not a girl. What if I told my parents I was gay? I wonder how they’d react. _

Daishou was once more snapped out of his thoughts as Mika texted him goodnight and he texted back the same.  _ I’ll deal with that when I feel like it. _ Daishou rolled onto his side, closed his eyes and attempted to fall asleep.

On the other hand, Terushima couldn’t sleep. Terushima laid on his bed in gray sweatpants and Daishou’s hoodie. The hoodie somehow still smelt like the latter which didn’t help Terushima’ situation at all. Terushima groaned as he stood up grabbing his phone and making his way down to the kitchen for a warm glass of milk. Terushima looked outside the window watching the cars drive by on the highway that was by his house. Terushima eventually zoned out, stuck in the chaos of his mind.

_ Why does he have to be so goddamn perfect in every freaking way? The way his brown eyes shine when the sun hits them. Or when he smiles it looks like he has little fangs. Or when he gets nervous or shy he tends to play with his fingers or hide behind someone taller than him. Or how his hair perfectly falls onto the side of his face, not covering his eyes. _

Terushima made his way back to his room after finishing his milk. He laid in his bed again feeling tired but his eyes wouldn't let him sleep. He sighed and tried to roll on his side but he winced in pain. For a moment he had forgotten what had happened two weeks prior. He thought his body would’ve been healed by now but I guess there was still some bruising. Terushima stayed on his back with his eyes closed trying to sleep. It had felt like 30 minutes had passed by and Terushima still wasn’t asleep. Terushima grabbed his phone and checked the time, 2am. If he didn’t go to sleep now he would fall asleep in his class, which he himself didn’t mind, but apparently he snored so everyone else minded. As much as he tried to sleep he just couldn’t and he didn’t know why. Usually when he had nights like these he would go on a walk to calm himself but he chose not to this time. He stayed how he was and kept his eyes closed. Eventually he would fall asleep.  _ Right? _ Truth is Terushima had no idea, maybe because he has been asleep for so long his body wouldn’t let him but he still didn’t know. What was that superstition his grandmother had once once said?

_ 'If you can’t sleep it means someone’s thinking about you.' _


	7. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He had forgotten what a family was supposed to look like. He realized that it was supposed to look like that. It was supposed to be a group of people who love you so much no matter what. A group of people who wouldn’t judge you for doing things you love. A group of people who just accept you as you are, no matter your flaws. Just a loving group of people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to be in more details in this one but that didn't really work out, but hope you enjoy!

6:00am. That was the time Terushima and Daishou both got out of their beds to get ready for school, and neither had gotten any sleep. 

Daishou put on his uniform and packed his gym bag with the clothes he’d use for volleyball practice later. He put his homework that he had forgotten to do in his bag and went into his bathroom to get ready. Once finishing he brought his stuff down, including his phone, and went down to the kitchen where his parents awaited him.

“Where were you last night?” His dad inquired.

“Went to visit my friend in the hospital, he’s been released by the way not that you’d care, and then ate dinner at his house,” Daishou explained.

“And you didn’t bother to tell us?” Hs mom wondered.

“Sorry, it slipped my mind,” Daishou replied, grabbing an apple from the fruit basket.

“Well it might just slip our minds to feed you today!” Fumed Daishou’s dad. 

“What the hell?” Daishou questioned in an angry tone. “I’m sorry I forgot to text you guys I was gonna be eating dinner at my friend’ house but that’s no reason to starve me!”

“Maybe next time tell us!” His father bickered.

“Fine, be like that!” Daishou bellowed. “I can just feed myself!”

“Fine!” His dad answered, going back to reading that morning's newspaper, signaling the end of the conversation. Daishou grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder and then put his shoes on and walked out of the door. He walked to Mika’s house as he does everyday. Mika walked out of the house joining Daishou on the sidewalk. They walked and engaged in small conversation.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” Mika asked. “You look dead as hell.”

“For you information,” Daishou began as he yawned. “No, I did not sleep last night.”

“Coffee run?” Mika suggested which Daishou just nodded. They made their way to a coffee shop and both got cups of coffee. Mika got a small while Daishou got a large. 

Terushima on the other hand was nearly late to school. He got ready for school, brushed his teeth, did his hair, put his uniform on. He put his laptop in his bag which had been charging for 2 weeks straight. He put his books in his bag, grabbed his phone and went down to the kitchen. 

“Yuuji you look horrible,” Yuuki admitted upon seeing Terushima walk down the stairs. Terushima already knew that he didn’t need his sister telling him.

“Thanks Yuuki,” Terushima said sarcastically. “No, good morning Yuuji, no, how did you sleep Yuuji. Just straight to the point.”

“Yuuji, watch your tone,” his mom warned. He apologized and made himself a cup of coffee and then put some of the coffee in a bottle, which he’d bring to school. He grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl and ate it while scrolling through his phone. 

“Yuuji, can you walk Yuuki and Suku to school please?” His dad asked him kindly.

“Sure, but if I’m late I’m telling them it’s your fault,” Terushima answered, grabbing his bags. His dad nodded as his siblings grabbed their bags and put their shoes on. 

Yuuki and Suku began bickering over something stupid again. Terushima finished his cup of coffee and put his shoes on and grabbed his bag. He and his siblings walked out the door and began their 2 block walk to their school. At one point they had passed the street where the situation had happened and Terushima tried his very hardest not to show signs of being scared. He would probably never be able to walk that way again. Once they had arrived at his siblings school he said goodbye to them and made his way to his school. He walked as quickly as he could and realized he only had 5 minutes before class started, he thought about running there but he remembered what his doctor had said. He decided to speed walk. Thankfully he made it with one minute to spare.

“Teru!” Someone shouted from behind Terushima. Terushima turned sharply causing him to wince slightly, but he put a smile on his face after recognizing the voice.

“Bobata!” Terushima exclaimed. Bobata embraced Terushima in a soft hug. 

“Thank god you’re ok!” Bobata exclaimed. “Everyone’s been worried sick.”

“Sorry for making them worry,” Terushima responded slightly. They caught up for a few moments but the bell ended their conversation. They took their seats as the teacher began taking attendance. Some of Terushima’ friends noticed he was back and did a small handshake that they usually did. 

“Is Yuuji back?” his teacher asked looking around the room.

“Yeah I’m back!” Terushima exclaimed raising his hand notifying he was there. The teacher smiled.

“Welcome back,” she said before moving onto the next person. 

They began with their lessons and Terushima kept almost falling asleep every 5 minutes. _ Thank god for coffee  _ he thought to himself every time he took a sip. When lunch finally arrived he and his friends went down to the cafeteria where Terushima bought himself something to eat, he didn’t like anything there but his friends would kill him if he didn’t eat something again. They walked around the school and finally went back to their classroom waiting for class to start once more. The day passed pretty slowly but eventually it was the end of the day. Terushima, Bobata and Takeharu made their way to the gym, even though Terushima couldn’t practice he wanted to go to make sure his team was still actually doing stuff and not fooling around like usual. When he entered the gym, Bobata and Takeharu left him to go get changed in the club room. Terushima went and sat on a bench near the coach and the two managers. 

“Glad to see you’re back,” Terushima’ coach said. “Why aren’t you getting changed with the others?” 

“I can’t participate in any physical activities until Thursday,” Terushima explained. The coach nodded but looked disappointed. Slowly everyone started entering the gym and hugged Terushima upon seeing him. Everyone started stretching like usual, some people ran laps others helped each other warm up, just the usual Johzenji thing. Once everyone was finished they all stood in front of Terushima waiting to be told what to do. 

“Oh!” Terushima said as he realized they were waiting for him to tell them what to do. “What have you guys been practicing while I was gone?” 

“The same as last time," Bobata explained. “Practicing new quicks and spikes.”

“So it’s safe to assume you guys are rusty in serving and receiving?” Terushima questioned. Everyone nodded. “Alright so do some serving and receiving drills and then you guys can work on whatever you feel needs to be worked on.”

Everyone nodded and began their drills. Terushima watched from the sidelines helping as much as he could wherever he could. 

“Yeah just like that!” Terushima exclaimed as someone finally received a ball perfectly. “Alright you guys can work on individual practice if you want. Other than that you’re dismissed.” 

Everyone cheered and split into two groups, those who wanted to practice longer and those who were tired and those who wanted to go home. Terushima grabbed his things and made his way to the front of the school. He felt a buzz come from his phone, so he went to check it.

**_[Daishou] Oi, are you walking home with anyone? (6:30pm)_ **

**_[Terushima] No, and how’d you even know I was heading home? (6:32pm)_ **

**_[Daishou] Doesn’t matter (6:35pm)_ **

**_[Terushima] Omg are you stalking me? (6:36pm)_ **

**_[Daishou] No I just don’t want you walking home alone. (6:37pm)_ **

**_[Terushima] Ouch no need for the punctuation (6:38pm)_ **

**_[Daishou] Shocked you know such a big word (6:40pm)_ **

**_[Terushima] HEY I’M NOT THAT DUMB (6:41pm)_ **

**_[Daishou] Whatever, see if I ever come to walk you home again (6:42pm)_ **

**_[Terushima] WAIT YOU’RE HERE? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME?! (6:43pm)_ **

**_[Daishou] Just shut up and come to the front of your school (6:44pm)_ **

**_[Terushima] OK IM COMING (6:45pm)_ **

Terushima was shocked, he almost started running to the front of his school, but he knew Daishou would get mad at him so he decided to speed walk instead. When he got to the front he saw Daishou sitting by the front steps. Terushima smiled and made his way over to the latter.

“Shou-san!” Terushima exclaimed, startling Daishou who seemed to have been lost in his thoughts.

“Hi,” Daishou said as he stood up and walked towards Terushima. “And what did I say about calling me that?”

“Sorry anyways, why did you come?” Terushima asked. “Aren’t your parents gonna be mad?” 

Daishou sighed, “Yeah well, they’re already mad at me enough to not feed me so what’s the point.”

“Wait, oh no this is my fault,” Terushima said, frowning slightly.

“No no no no,” Daishou disputed. “It’s my fault, don’t worry about it.”

“I still feel bad,” Terushima grumbled. “Lemme buy you dinner!” 

“You don’t have to,” Daishou said, making his way to the outside of the school, Terushima following alongside him.

“Come on let me buy the pretty boy some dinner,” Terushima flirted. Daishou rolled his eyes and turned his head to look across the street to hide the fact that he was blushing.

“I don’t know why you keep calling me that,” Daishou admitted.

“Calling you what?” Terushima questioned. “Pretty boy?”

“Yeah,” Daishou answered. “It’s not like I’m pretty or whatever.”

“I swear I’m about to hit you on the back of the head,” Terushima admitted.

“What?!” Daishou asked, putting his hands protectively on the back of his head. “Why?!”

“Because we don’t approve of talking shit about ourselves!” Terushima chastised, laughing slightly.

“I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking jeez,” Daishou huffed, putting his arms down. Terushima hit Daishou on the back of the head. “OW!”

“I told you I was going to!” Terushima retorted. Daishou scowled at Terushima and kept walking. Daishou put his arms back on the back of his head.

“Pft, see if I come and walk you home again,” Daishou scoffed. 

“Hey!” Terushima exclaimed. “I just hit you in the back of the head and it wasn’t even hard!” 

“You still hit me!” Daishou snapped.

“Damn what’s got your panties in a twist?” Terushima asked jokingly.

“I’m fine!” Daishou retorted, “Why does everyone always think something’s wrong?!”

“Hey calm it Shou-san,” Terushima sneered. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong!” shot Daishou. “Ugh!”

Daishou kicked a can on the floor with such force it went flying onto the other side of the street.

“Shou-san what’s wrong?” Terushima queried, putting his hand on Daishou’s shoulder. 

“It’s nothing ok!” Daishou stated, getting out of Terushima’ grip. “Just drop it, ok?!”

“Ok,, jeez,” exasperated Terushima, as he followed after Daishou. “What do you want to eat?”

“I don’t care, whatever you want,” Daishou replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

“McDonald’s?” Terushima questioned. Daishou shrugged his shoulders but Terushima took that as a yes. They made their way over to the closest one and they went inside and ordered their food. Terushima paid even though Daishou protested. 

“Hey is that Sakusa over there?” Daishou whispered to Terushima as they sat down. Daishou pointed to Sakusa who was sitting with a blonde guy. 

“Yeah but who’s he sitting with?” Terushima whispered back curiously.

“No idea,” Daishou answered and began on his food. 

Terushima and Daishou ate. Terushima decided not to bring up what happened on the sidewalk, but he did find it unusual for Daishou to just show up and make plans, that was not like him at all. He pushed that thought from his head and just enjoyed his meal. He texted his mom saying that he was eating dinner with Daishou and that she didn’t need to prepare anything for him. When they had both finished eating they threw away their garbage and left. Daishou insisted on walking Terushima home once again, to which Terushima chose not to refuse as he wanted to spend more time with the latter. But one thing did cross Terushima’ mind.

“Hey,” Terushima wondered. “Did you not have volleyball practice today?” 

“Oh,” Daishou answered. “Yeah I didn’t have practice today, we chose to take the day off.”

“Oh” Terushima said. “Ok, but interhigh-preliminaries are coming up, don’t you guys want to do well?”

“Yeah,” Daishou responded. “But it’s important to take breaks. We can’t constantly overwork ourselves. It’s not good for our health.”

Terushima felt like the latter was talking more to Terushima than about his team. They kept walking until they got to Terushima’ house.

“Ok so I’ll see you Friday right?” Terushima asked, standing in front of the door. Daishou nodded.

“Friday,” Daishou responded plainly. Terushima smiled and waved bye to him as he went into his house.

Daishou turned around and began to walk letting out a heavy breath. _Why did he like Terushima so much?_ He himself couldn’t answer that. Maybe it’s because when he smiles, his tongue sticks out showing off his tongue piercing. Or how when he’s really excited or proud of something he’ll start jumping up and down. Or how he always finds a way to cheer people up when they’re down. Or how he’s so motivated in volleyball to do well but to also have fun and remember his youth. 

Daishou thought of this until he got home, he texted Terushima saying he got home which was at around 9:30pm. He took off his shoes and began his trip up the stairs to his room.

“Nice of you to finally show up,” chided Daishou’s dad.

“Sorry,” Daishou responded. “Went to go get food with my friends, not like you would’ve fed me anyways.”

“A text would have sufficed!” His mom shouted. Daishou ignored this and rolled his eyes and went to his bedroom.

He shut his door and plopped down onto his bed, his face stuffed into a pillow. He screamed into it, thanking that it made his screams muffled. He sat up taking in a deep breath. He went and took a shower and changed out of his school uniform. Daishou was glad his parents didn’t bother him when he was in his room, but he had a feeling they just forgot about him. 

_ It wouldn’t be the first time they forgot about me,  _ Daishou thought to himself.  _ First they forget me at the beach when I was 5, then they forget me in their own hospital when I was 7, then they forgot me at the supermarket when I was 10, then they forget me at home for a week when I was 12 while they went on a road trip which I was supposed to go on. Then they forgot me at my school when they were supposed to come pick me up after the preliminaries last year.  _ Daishou tried remembering all the times his parents had forgotten him, and him being a single child makes it worse. It’s not like his parents had a lot of kids to remember so them forgetting about Daishou is completely intentional.

When Daishou had eaten dinner with Terushima’ family last night, he had forgotten what a family was supposed to look like. He realized that it was supposed to look like that. It was supposed to be a group of people who love you so much no matter what. A group of people who wouldn’t judge you for doing things you love. A group of people who just accept you as you are, no matter your flaws. Just a loving group of people. But Daishou also realized family didn’t necessarily have to be blood related. Like he and his friends, sure Daishou didn’t have many but the ones he did have, he felt accepted. Like that was where he belonged. Not where he is now with his parents. Not with a group of egotistical parents who only care about their job and could give less of a damn about what’s wrong with their child. But with a group of people like Terushima, Mika, Daichi, Sakusa, Ushijima, Kuroo, Kita, Bokuto and Oikawa. Just people who will care about you even if you don't care about yourself. That’s what family is.

Daishou sighed as he sat down at his desk to begin his homework. But one thing kept bugging him as he tried to work. He felt really bad about lashing out at Terushima.

**_[Daishou]: Hey, I just wanted to apologize about earlier tonight (10:05pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: It’s fine, don’t worry about it (10:06pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: No it’s not ok so don’t let me get a free chance out of this (10:07pm)_ **

**_[Daishou] I just wanted to say I’m sorry, it was totally not ok for me to lash out at you. I’ve been pretty stressed lately and I know that’s not a good reason and I understand if you don’t forgive me about this but I truly am sorry (10:10pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: As long as you know what you did wrong is fine with me. I know you’re sorry you don’t have to worry about it ok? All is forgiven (10:12pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Why won’t you just be mad at me? I deserve it (10:13pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Because if I’ve learned anything it’s to not dwell upon being angry over little things (10:14pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: You’re talking so professionally are you sure this is the same Terushima I know? (10:15pm)_ **

**_[Terushima] I CAN BE SMART WHEN I WANT TO BE!! (10:17pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Yeah yeah ok, thank you for forgiving me (10:19pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: You’re welcome (10:20pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: I gotta do homework now bye (10:21pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Can’t believe you’re ditching me for homework :( (10:22pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Bye Terushima, you should do your homework too (10:22pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: For your information, I don’t have homework! (10:24pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: So you mean those 2 weeks you were in a coma you got absolutely 0 homework? (10:25pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: … (10:26pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Thought so, have fun doing 2 weeks worth of homework (10:27pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: I really do hate it here sometimes (10:28pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Same, anyways Shima says hi (10:29pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: SHOW ME SHIMA PLEASEEEEE (10:30pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Finish your homework and then I will (10:30pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: That is a fair deal I will start it now (10:31pm)_ **

Daishou laughed slightly and then began on his homework. By the time he finished his homework it was almost 12am. He checked his phone to see if Terushima had texted him, when he hadn’t Daishou sent him a picture of Shima with a message saying.

**_[Daishou]: Don’t stay up too late doing homework (11:45pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Goodnight from Shima and I (11:45pm)_ **

Daishou texted Mika goodnight, though he knew she wouldn’t see it until tomorrow because she claimed she needed her “beauty sleep”. Daishou put his homework in his bag and went to get ready for bed. He turned off his lights and put his phone charging and he laid on his bed. Having not slept the night before the moment his head hit the pillow he had fallen asleep.

Terushima had stayed awake until 12:30am trying to finish his 2 weeks worth of homework. He had turned off his phone so he wouldn’t be distracted. When he turned on his phone after being finished he had seen the message Daishou sent him and smiled.

**_[Terushima]: Goodnight :) (12:35am)_ **

He knew Daishou was asleep by now but he didn’t care. He yawned and got ready for bed. He put his books in his bag, he brushed his teeth, washed his face and got changed into comfy clothes. He turned off his lights and put his phone charging. He laid down on his bed and finally fell asleep.


	8. Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terushima is finally able to practice volleyball again, but will he be as good as he used to be?

The next few days passed by rather quickly for both Terushima and Daishou. Terushima was eager to finally be able to practice with the rest of his team. He was well aware he would need a little more practice than the rest of the team, but he didn’t mind that. When the final bell finally rang he, Bobata and Takeharu ran for the club room. He was well aware of the fact that his teacher was yelling at the three of them from down the hall, but he couldn’t care less. He was finally able to run around and do the thing he loved most. He ran into the club room missing the scent. He knew he could’ve gone any time that week into the club room but he knew if he did he would be too tempted to play again, so he stayed away from it. He got changed and made his way to the gym. He did a lap of the gym for no reason. He began warming up with the biggest smile on his face. He knew he should probably still take it easy but he couldn’t help himself. He was way too happy to be able to play again. Once everyone had finished warming up everyone circled around Terushima.

“Alright let’s keep doing what we were doing this week!” Terushima cheered. “We’ll practice drills of everything, serving, receiving, setting and spiking. You guys ready?”

Everyone cheered so Terushima took that as a yes, everyone did as usual. Terushima was a little rusty and just as he got used to it they would have to switch drills. By the end of it he was exhausted but he knew he had to keep practicing. He and Takeharu stayed behind to practice a bit longer. Terushima to keep practicing his spikes and quicks, and Takeharu to just help him out. Eventually Takeharu had to go, leaving Terushima alone in the gym.

_ “Don’t overwork yourself!”  _ the coach had told him before he left the gym. Terushima knew he shouldn’t but he couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t afford being behind.

Daishou had suspected Terushima would be overworking himself tonight so he chose to go to the school and find Terushima. It took Daishou a while to locate the gym on such a big campus but he found it eventually as it was the only room with the lights on. He walked inside the gym leaning against the wall until Terushima noticed him. It pained him to see Terushima so frustrated whenever he didn’t do something the way he wanted to. He frowned when Terushima screwed up his serve, he could’ve sworn he saw a tear roll down his cheek.

“I know you’re there Daishou,” Terushima said, while turning around to the wall that Daishou wasn’t on to hide the fact he was crying. “You don’t have to keep staring at me.”

“Sorry,” Daishou apologized. “Terushima, you don’t have to over work yourself. Obviously you’re not going to be as good as you used to be.”

“But I have to be!” shouted Terushima. “I need to get better! I need to be better than what I was two weeks ago!” Terushima turned sharply, showing Diashou his tear stained cheeks. “I-I have to!”

“You’re just going to hurt yourself more!” chided Daishou.”If you keep doing this it’s not going to help anyone!”

“You’re saying this so your team can win aren’t you?!” Terushima accused. Daishou was taken aback. 

“You think I care more about winning then about my own friends?!” Daishou scoffed.

Terushima hadn’t been thinking, the words had simply just slipped out. But he knew it was too late to take back what he said.

“Fuck,” Terushima muttered. “I-I’m sorry Daishou. I didn’t mean to I swear-”

“Yeah, but you still did, didn’t you?” Daishou interjected. Daishou grabbed his bag from off the floor and walked towards the exit but turned around. “You know, I came to see if you were ok. Because I knew you would be overworking yourself too much. That you’d hurt yourself more! But I guess it was wrong of me to wonder? I guess I should just stop caring about my friends, huh?” Daishou felt his eyes tear up but he didn’t let a single tear out. He wouldn’t let himself cry in front of Terushima.

“Daishou I really am sorry,” Terushima mumbled looking at the ground, tears falling out of his eyes. “You know I wouldn’t. It’s just- it’s just tiring trying and trying only for it not to work.”

“When someone offers their help, don't shut them out, Terushima,” Daishou said, putting his bag on the ground and making his way towards Terushima. “We’re here to make sure you can actually play in the preliminaries. You’re going to struggle at the beginning because your body hasn’t played in 2 weeks. It’s not used to the fact of playing again. But over working, stressing over every little thing, it’s just gonna be worse on yourself. You will get better, you will be better than what you were before, you just can’t rush yourself to do it.” 

Terushima wrapped his arms around Daishou’s torso crying into his shirt. At times like this Terushima forgets that his friends are there for him. He thinks he’s there alone, but he isn’t. There are truly people who care about what happens to him.

Daishou, who didn’t like hugs, decided he should comfort Terushima. So he put his arms around the blonde and pulled him closer. The way Daishou liked the latter, was so much more than he thought. Hearing Terushima cry hurt him, and knowing he was one of the reasons he was crying hurt him even more. He had lashed out at Terushima again, he mentally swore to himself as Terushima began to steady his breathing. Terushima let go of the embrace as did Daishou.

“Sorry,” Terushima mumbled. “I know you don’t like to be hugged.”

“It’s fine,” said Daishou. “Don’t worry about it. You ok?”

“Yeah,” Terushima admitted. “Yeah I’m ok now.”

Daishou nodded. “Time to get you home.”

“Can I practice a bit longer?” Terushima asked Daishou with puppy dog eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Daishou stated, looking away from the blonde.

“Looking at you like what?” Terushima wondered, even though he knew what he was doing. Terushima moved so that Daishou was looking at him.

“Like that,” Daishou said. “With those puppy dog eyes.” 

“But,” Terushima hesitated. “I look cute like this.”

“In your dreams,” Daishou said looking down at the latter. “Fine I’ll help you practice for a bit longer but when I say enough it’s enough.”

Terushima nodded quickly, a smile forming on his face, and ran to pick up the volleyballs. Once he got them all he put them down and grabbed one to which he would serve to Daishou. Time passed rather quickly and before they knew it, it was already 8pm.

“Oh my god we need to leave,” Daishou said, grabbing the volleyballs and putting them back in their respectful places. 

Terushima grabbed a mop and started cleaning the floors. Daishou took down the net and then helped Terushima clean the floors. Daishou followed Terushima up to the club room so Terushima could get changed. Terushima got changed quickly and then they quickly locked everything up and left the school building. Terushima and Daishou ran to catch the bus to Terushima’ house. Daishou texted his parents that he would be home late. Once they got to Terushima’ stop, they started their walk to Terushima’ house.

“Look at that just practicing with me and you’ve already gotten better at your serves.” Daishou stated proudly.

“Yeah,” Terushima said with a smile on his face.

“And you still have 2 weeks until preliminaries,” Daishou reminded Terushima. “You have enough time to get better at everything, so don’t work yourself too much.” 

“I’ll try my hardest,” Terushima said. “Thank you Daishou.’

“There’s nothing to thank me for,” Daishou replied. “Night, see you tomorrow.”

“Wow,” Terushima said dramatically, as he put his hand over his heart. “You won’t even wish me  _ goodnight? _ ”

Daishou rolled his eyes. “Goodnight idiot.” Daishou said waving goodbye and began walking away from Terushima’ house.

“Goodnight pretty boy!” Terushima called out, followed by Daishou rolling his eyes and making his way to the train station. 

Terushima entered his house to see his siblings and his parents all in the living room watching a movie, to be specific they were watching Spirited Away. 

“Sorry I’m late,” Terushima said while taking off his shoes. “Got distracted.”

“It’s fine sweetie,” his mom replied. “Dinner’s in the fridge, go warm it up and join us here.”

“Ok,” Terushima answered as he went upstairs to put his bag away and get changed. 

He decided to take a quick shower as he was sweaty and then he went downstairs to warm up his food and join his family in the living room. He sat on the corner of the couch where, shockingly, no one was sitting and he ate his food. Terushima was glad when his house was like this, which was hardly ever. He liked it when his younger siblings weren’t yelling at each other or chasing each other around the house. He liked it when it was peaceful in his chaotic house.

That peace soon ended as the movie finished. His sister started fighting with his brother because he was taking up too much space on the couch. His brother started fighting with his sister because her feet were too close to him. Terushima left the living room and went into the kitchen to wash his plate and just be free of all the noise. Terushima then went to his room to start his homework.

**_[Daishou]: I’m home (9:45pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: In case you were wondering (9:45pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: I was just about to text you asking (9:46pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Well now you don’t have to (9:47pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: I need to start my homework now :( (9:47pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Yeah me too (9:48pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Wanna call and do it together? (9:49pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: I’m on call with Mika right now, later? (9:50pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: I feel replaced but yeah sure later works (9:52pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Shut up ok bye now do your homework (9:53pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Fine bye (9:55pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Don’t be jealous idiot (9:56pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: I’m not!! (9:56pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]:Going to totally ignore the fact that you literally are but ok bye now I’m going to actually do my homework (9:57pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Ok ok byeee (9:58pm)_ **

“Who are you texting?” Mika asked over facetime.

“No one,” Daishou replied, putting his phone down, but picking it up once more when he felt a buzz. 

“Really? Didn’t know no one can make you smile that much,” Mika said sarcastically.

“Shut up,” Daishou said, taking the smile away from his face. “I wasn’t even smiling.”

“Yeah ok,” Mika replied. “And I’m not failing two of my classes.”

“Well maybe if you paid attention in class and didn’t cheat off me in every test, you’d be passing.” Daishou remarked.

“Haha,” Mika said sarcastically. “Go talk to your precious Terushima.”

“Dude,” said Daishou. “What is it with you and assuming I like him.”

“Because you do.”

“How many times do I have to tell you I don’t?”

“Oh yeah? Who’d you leave volleyball practice early for tonight?” Mika asked, already knowing the answer. Daishou stayed quiet. “That’s what I thought.”

“That’s just me caring for a friend,” Daishou said finally.

“You’ve never ditched practice for me or anyone else so don’t try and push this off as that,” Mika replied quickly, shutting Daishou up. 

He continued on his homework that was due the next day, but he wasn’t really paying attention to what he was doing.

“Oi!” Mika shouted through his laptop screen, snapping him out of his thoughts. “I’m going to bed, don’t stay up too late.”

“Oh yeah,” Daishou replied, shaking his head. “Goodnight.”

Mika hung up and Daishou facetimed Terushima on his laptop which the latter quickly answered.

“Hiiiiiiii,” Terushima said with a big smile plastered on his face. “I’ve been waiting for you to call.”

“So you haven’t been doing your homework?” Daishou asked. Terushima made a flat face, meaning Daishou had been correct. “Start it now.

“Fine fine,” Terushima replied, taking a pencil from his pencil case and beginning on his work. 

Daishou got easily distracted, but only when it came to certain things. People commonly get easily distracted when they do something they don’t want to do, but Daishou wanted to do his homework, but with a pretty boy on his laptop screen it was easy to get distracted by him. The way Terushima scrunched his nose when he got stuck on a tough question, his smile when finally got through it. The way Terushima plays with his pencil in his hands when he’s thinking, the way his tongue sticks out when he’s writing the answer down. Daishou let out a small smile but quickly hid it when Terushima looked up at the camera.

“You staring at me pretty boy instead of doing your work?” Terushima asked, even though he knew Daishou was. Terushima had seen in the corner of his eye Daishou looking at him and smiling but he thought maybe someone had texted him and it had shown up on his screen.

“No idiot,” Daishou said, a small unnoticeable blush creeping up his cheeks. “There’s rice on your face.”

“What?!” Terushima asked, shockingly pulling out his phone to see if Daishou was lying. Turns out he wasn’t and Teruhsima hid his face in his hands, his cheeks turning redder with embarrassment. Daishou laughed softly, making Terushima’ face turn more red.

The two continued on their work, Daishou somehow actually doing his work. Terushima too was easily distracted by the latter but he tried as hard as he could to not look up at the camera. When it was around 11pm, the two had completely finished their homework and they both sighed with relief.

“Show me Shima,” Terushima begged, as he put his stuff in his bag.

“Fine hold on,” Daishou replied. Daishou took his laptop off his desk and made his way to his bedside table where Shima's cage was and showed it to Terushima. “He’s asleep right now but you can kinda see him in the corner over there.”

“He’s cute when he’s sleeping,” Terushima admitted. “Like you.”

“Are you comparing me to a snake?” Daishou asked turning the camera back on him.

“I was just saying you’re cute when you sleep,’ Terushima said smiling. Daishou rolled his eyes and put the laptop back on the desk.

“We should go to sleep, we have school tomorrow,” Daishou said after he yawned.

“Yeah yeah,” Terushima replied, also yawning due to Daishou. “Apparently if you yawn and another person in the room doesn't yawn, but they saw you yawn is apparently a psychopath.”

“Where are you getting your information from?” Daishou asked laughing lightly.

“The internet,” Terushima replied laughing a bit.

“Well you shouldn’t believe everything you see on the internet.”

“You’re acting like an old lady,” Terushima said, laughing even more.

Daishou rolled his eyes. “Goodnight Terushima.”

“Goodnight Shou-san,” Terushima replied.

“Don’t call me that.”

Terushima laughed. “Ok ok, goodnight Daishou.”

Daishou hung up and then smiled at the blank screen. Daishou turned off his computer and put away his homework. He had already taken a shower when he got home so he didn’t need to worry about taking one now. Daishou got changed into the clothes he slept in and then went through his usual night time routine. Once he was done, he turned off his lights and put his phone charging and finally went to sleep.


	9. Friday Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I think the two lover boys should go,” Oikawa said, crossing his arms over his chest. Everyone nodded, well everyone but Terushima and Daishou, the two were very confused on who Oikawa was talking about.
> 
> “I didn’t know your precious Iwa-chan was coming,” Terushima said, looking around as if expecting for Iwaizumi to pop up.
> 
> “Shut up!” Oikawa said. “And I was talking about you and Daishou dumbass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: MENTIONS OF ABUSE

Terushima had finally finished practice, it somehow felt like it had dragged on forever. He rushed to the club room, though he knew he had plenty of time before he and his friends met up, he still wanted to get home early. Despite the fact that in the back of his mind he felt like he should practice more he didn’t, knowing it would only stress him out more. He, Takeharu and Bobata, who lived near Terushima, all decided to go home together and that's what they did. They all took the bus and Takeharu and Bobata walked Terushima to his house as his was the first that they passed.

“Bye guys!” Terushima exclaimed. “See you on monday!”

“Bye!” Bobata and Takeharu exclaimed as Terushima went into his house. 

“Welcome home hun,” Terushima’s mom said as he entered the house. “You’re going with your friends tonight right?” 

Terushima nodded. “Yeah so I won’t be eating dinner here.”

“Ok,” his mom replied as she went into the kitchen.

Terushima went up to his room and took a shower and put on the clothes that he’s gonna wear to go with his friends. He left the house at 5:30 to go to the park that everyone was meeting up at. Terushima, Daichi, Oikawa and Ushijima were the first to arrive. They waited by the entrance of the park. Each had agreed to bring some food to eat, Terushima had brought some snacks, Daichi had brought some chips, Ushijima had brought some crackers, Oikawa had brought some gummy bears and more candy. When the others had arrived Daishou had noticed something.

“So no one brought drinks.”

“I guess not,” Daichi replied looking at everyone’s hands, where they held out what they had brought. 

“I’m not going to get it!” Oikawa and Bokuto announced. 

“Well neither am I!” Kuroo and Kita added.

“I think the two lover boys should go,” Oikawa said, crossing his arms over his chest. Everyone nodded, well everyone but Terushima and Daishou, the two were very confused on who Oikawa was talking about.

“I didn’t know your precious Iwa-chan was coming,” Terushima said, looking around as if expecting for Iwaizumi to pop up.

“Shut up!” Oikawa said. “And I was talking about you and Daishou dumbass.”

“Ohhhhh,” Terushima replied, dragging the h. “Can we pretty boy?”

“I told you not to call me that!” Daishou said hitting Terushima in the head, not hard enough to hurt him. “Yeah fine whatever.”

“Yay!” Terushima exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head. “What do you guys want?”

After Daishou and Terushima wrote down what the others wanted they made their way to the convenience store nearby. 

“How was practice?” Terushima asked Daishou.

“It was fine, what about you?” Daishou wondered.

“Same for me,” Terushima responded.

They walked together in comfortable silence until they got to the convenience store. They looked through all the aisles looking for the drinks their friends asked for. 

“Coffee for Sakusa, Kita. Iced tea for Oikawa, Kuroo and you. Water for Ushijima and Daichi. 7up for me and Bokuto, that’s everything right?” Terushima asked Daishou, looking at the drinks in both their arms. 

“Yup,” Daishou replied. “Let’s go pay.”

Terushima nodded and walked over to the cashier, Daishou followed.

The cashier was a girl with short auburn hair, who looked to be around the same age as Terushima and Daishou. She had the same colour eyes and she wore glasses. She had been eyeing Terushima from the moment he and Daishou had entered. Daishou had taken notice but didn’t act on it, it wasn’t uncommon for people to gaze at Terushima. Terushima though had taken no notice.

Terushima and Daishou placed the drinks on the counter and waited for the woman to finish scanning the items. When she finished scanning, Daishou paid, and the woman took her chance to talk to Terushima.

“Hey I’m writing a book and I need your help,” she said. Daishou knew where this was going but Terushima clearly did not.

“That’s cool,” Terushima replied. “What can help with?”

“It’s a phone book and it’s missing your number,” the woman replied, smirking slightly. 

Terushima let out a small chuckle. “That’s funny, give me a pen and paper.”

The woman took a piece of paper and a pen from next to her and gave it to Terushima. Daishou finished paying and took a quick glance at Terushima without the latter noticing. Daishou put the drinks in a bag as Terushima started writing his number on the piece of paper. Daishou left the store while Terushima finished writing his number on the paper.

“Daishou-” Terushima said as he saw the dark haired boy leave. “Ugh sorry, nice to meet you!” 

“Nice to meet you too,” she replied. “I’m Ayumu by the way!”

“I’m Terushima,” he said, beginning to walk away. “Bye now!’

Ayumu waved bye to him as he ran out of the store chasing down Daishou.

“Hey!” Terushima called out when he finally caught up with Daishou. “I thought we were leaving together?”

“You looked busy,” Daishou replied coldly. “Didn’t want to bother you.”

“Yeah ok,” Terushima said. 

The two walked in awkward silence as they made their way back to the group. The walk seemed longer than it was before which made this a whole long more uncomfortable for the two of them. When they did finally get back they noticed that half the food was already gone.

“Leave some for us, why don’t you?” Terushima said sarcastically.

“You guys were taking forever,” Oikawa replied. “We thought you got lost.” 

“No we were fine, right Shou-san?” Terushima asked, looking at Daishou.

“Yeah we were fine,” Daishou said plainly while putting the bag of drinks on the table. Daishou sat on the corner of the table next to Kita, while Terushima sat in between Ushijima and Oikawa. 

“What’s wrong with Daishou?” Oikawa whispered in Terushima’ ear, but he just shrugged his shoulders. “Weird, it’s not like him.”

“Yeah, I don’t know,” Terushima whispered. 

They carried on with what they were doing, making conversation until about 10pm they had all decided to part ways. Daishou decided to stay behind and so did Terushima. 

“You ok?” Terushima asked while helping Daishou clean up the mess the others left.

“Yeah I’m fine,” Daishou lied.

“You know you don’t have to lie to me,” Terushima responded.

“It’s fine, ok? ” Daishou responded.

“Is it your parents again?” Terushima asked, putting the garbage in the garbage can the park had.

“It’s nothing ok,” Daishou said, a little too quickly. He avoided Terushima’ gaze. “I’m going home, goodnight Terushima.”

“Daishou-” 

“Goodnight Terushima,” Daishou said as he walked away.

“Goodnight.”

Daishou didn’t know why he was so bothered by the girl at the convenience store, I mean Terushima got hit on often. I guess what angered him more was the fact Terushima constantly flirted with him but would flirt with other people right in front of him. It just pained him that Terushima was leading him on. He tried not to show that he was upset but it was hard when the person he liked so much was just willing to give strangers his number. Daishou put his hood up and walked into his house, he took off his shoes and went up to his room. Daishou and everyone else hadn’t hung out when Terushima was in the hospital. Daishou was constantly at Terushima’ side, when he didn’t have volleyball practice or wasn’t forced to go home by his parents or Mika. Everyone visited occasionally but they usually all came together at the hospital on Fridays for a few hours. Daishou didn’t like how hung up he was getting over Terushima, he didn’t like to be hung up over people he knew he had no chance with. Daishou sat on his bed and out his head in his hands.

“Dude you good?” a voice said from Daishou’ door. 

“WHO THE F-” Daishou screamed as he jumped up from where he was sitting only to realize it was Terushima. “How did you-”

“Did you not see me following you home?” Terushima asked.

“No-” Daishou said, still stunned. He sat back down on his bed. “Don’t fucking do that.”

“Watch the swearing Mr. ‘I don’t swear,’” Terushima said sarcastically. “I knew you weren’t ok. I just wanted to make sure you were.”

“My parents are going to have a fit if they wake up and you’re here,” Daishou said ignoring what the latter had previously said. 

“I don’t care,” Terushima replied. “Now what’s wrong?” Terushima closed the door and sat next to Daishou.

“It’s nothing alright?” Daishou said sternly. “I told you before it was nothing.”

“Yeah? Well I don’t believe that,” Terushima replied, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“I don’t care whether you believe me or not I told you the truth,” Daishou replied. “I’m fine.”

“Why is it so hard for you to admit that you’re not ok?” Terushima asked, looking at Daishou. “You know it’s ok to not be ok.”

“Well I’m ok so you can leave me alone now.” 

“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me,” Terushima replied, laying down on Daishou' bed. 

“Well I’m going to take a shower so have fun,” Daishou said, getting up and walking into his bathroom. Daishou got in the shower and Terushima went to look at Shima.

Truth be told, Daishou had more problems other than Terushima. Daishou was scared his parents were going to kick him out due to him hardly being home. His parents acted so cruelly to Daishou, he never wanted to be home. They blamed him for every little thing that went wrong, they would never feed him so he’d end up having to cook something leading to him being yelled at for being “spoiled”. His parents were hardly ever home either, they were constantly at work or out buying things for the two of them. He wished his cousins could visit again, the last time they had visited was two years ago and so much had changed since then. His parents had gotten more strict, they yelled at him more, they would occasionally hit him, it was so bad Daishou just wanted to leave. He knew that there were people who dealt with worse but this was as bad as Daishou thought it could get for him. 

He finished his shower and realized he hadn’t brought clothes with him to change into. He put a towel around his waist and walked out of the bathroom, avoiding showing Terushima his back. And there still sat Terushima, looking at his snake. Daishou’ gaze softened for a moment until the latter turned towards him. 

“Well hello,” Terushima said looking Daishou up and down and smirking. Daishou rolled his eyes and went to his dresser to get jogging pants and went to his closet to get a hoodie. He noticed something that he was sure hadn’t been there earlier. 

“When’d you bring back my hoodie?” 


	10. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There’s nothing wrong!” Daishou exclaimed. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, though he didn’t sit next to Terushima.
> 
> At the same time Terushima got a text.
> 
> “Hold that thought,” Terushima said, pulling out his phone.
> 
> “I wasn’t going to say anything anyways,” Daishou said, laying on the floor.
> 
> Terushima received a text by the girl from the convenience store. Ayumu he recalled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: MENTIONS OF ABUSE

“Huh?” Terushima asked half listening to what he had said, he was  _ way _ too distracted.

“When did you bring back my hoodie?” Daishou asked once more, taking it out of his closet. 

“Oh while you were in the shower,” Terushima said. “Figured you wanted it back.”

Daishou stopped himself from saying, ‘ _ no you can keep it’, _ instead he said, “Oh, ok thanks.”

Daishou mentally slapped himself in the head. He grabbed another hoodie and went back into the bathroom to put the clothes on. When he came back out he saw Terushima cleaning his room.

“What are you doing?” Daishou asked.

“Well the rest of your house is clean I thought you’d like your room to be clean,” Terushima answered.

“No, it’s fine, I don’t want it to be clean.” Daishou said strictly. Terushima put down the clothes that were in his hands upon seeing Daishou’ face.

“Alright,” Terushima said, sitting down on the bed again. “Are you going to tell me what's wrong now?”

“I told you, there’s nothing wrong,” Daishou reminded the blonde.

“Ah yes,” Terushima said. “The most common lie said by you.”

“What’s it going to take to make you stop bothering me?” Daishou asked.

“Kiss me,” Terushima said, smirking.

“Anything but that.”

“Then tell me what’s bothering you,” Terushima said, patting the empty space next to him, signaling Daishou to sit next to him. 

“There’s nothing wrong!” Daishou exclaimed. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, though he didn’t sit next to Terushima.

At the same time Terushima got a text.

“Hold that thought,” Terushima said, pulling out his phone.

“I wasn’t going to say anything anyways,” Daishou said, laying on the floor.

Terushima received a text by the girl from the convenience store. Ayumu he recalled.

**_[Ayumu]: Hey!! This is the cashier from the convenience store! (12:05am)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Oh hi! (12:05am)_ **

**_[Ayumu]: How are you? (12:07am)_ **

**_[Terushima]: I’m alright how about you? (12:08am)_ **

**_[Ayumu]: Me too! Sorry if you thought I was weird I thought you were really cute so I thought I should try to get your number (12:10am)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Aw thank you! You’re not too bad yourself (12:11am)_ **

**_[Ayumu]: Haha thank you! I just wanted to text you before I forgot or lost your number (12:12am)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Well thank you for texting me! (12:12am)_ **

**_[Ayumu]: I’ll be heading to sleep now! Goodnight (12:13am)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Goodnight (12:13am)_ **

“Who was that?” Daishou asked, as he saw Terushima put away his phone.

“The girl from the convenience store,” Terushima replied. “Why are you on the floor?”

“It’s comfy.”

“Really?” Terushima questioned. “Or do you just not want to sit next to me?”

“That is a reason,” Daishou replied honestly.

“Daishou, that's mean!” Terushima exclaimed lightly kicking the latter.

“OW! Stop kicking me!” Daishou demanded. 

“Apologize!” Terushima said.

“Fine, I’m sorry!” Daishou apologized. Terushima stopped kicking him. “Thank you.” 

“Now tell me what’s wrong,” Terushima demanded.

“Oh not this again,” Daishou said, rolling his eyes.

“Yes this again!” Terushima exclaimed, throwing his hands up dramatically. “If you want me to leave tell me what’s fucking wrong!”

Daishou knew Terushima didn’t swear, so when he did he sat up straight. “But there’s noth-”

“Yeah there's nothing my ass,” Terushima interjected. “Would you just stop lying to me and yourself and tell me what’s wrong?!”

“What if I don’t want to talk huh?!” Daishou said loudly but not too loudly that his parents would wake up. “What if I don’t want to talk about the fact that I feel like my parents hate me?! What if I don’t want to talk about the fact that they blame me for every little thing that happens?! What if I don’t want to talk about the bruises on my back?! W-What if I don’t want to talk about the fact that I constantly feel like a burden to everyone?!”

The words just kept spilling out of him that when he stopped it felt like a weight lifted off his shoulders. Terushima stayed seated on the bed, his mouth hanging open slightly. Daishou felt tears forming in his eyes, but he made them stay where they were, not daring to be more emotional than he was. 

“Daishou I’m so sor-” 

“Don’t apologize for something you can’t fix.” Daishou interjected.

“Daishou you’re not a burden,” Terushima said softly sliding onto the floor next to Daishou.

“Then why do I constantly feel like one?” Daishou asked rhetorically. “It’s not like anyone cares what happens to me.”

“I care, the guys care, Mika cares. Daishou there are so many people who care about you and what happens to you.” Terushima stated. “I want to help you as much as I can.”

“It’s nothing you can help with.”

“Then at least let me take a look at your back,” Terushima said reaching for the back of Daishou’ shirt, but the latter quickly moved away. “Daishou please come on.”

Daishou shook his head quickly. “No it’s fine, they’re going away,” Daishou lied. 

“Don’t lie to me,” said Terushima. “Please I won’t touch them, I just want to look.” Daishou hesitated but shook his head again. “Daishou I won’t hurt you. I promise.”

Daishou sighed, “Fine. But I told you they’re not that bad.”

Terushima gently lifted up the back of Daishou’s hoodie to examine. What Terushima saw was far worse than what Daishou had said. He gasped seeing how big the blue, brown and purple looking areas were.

“Daishou how long has this been happening?” Terushima asked softly. 

Daishou shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know, but it’s been getting worse recently.”

“Why didn’t you tell me or someone sooner?” Terushima asked, putting the hoodie back down and moving to sit in front of Daishou. 

“I don’t know, I guess I was scared I-I-” Daishou replied. His voice trailed off as he looked down at the ground. Daishou avoided Terushima’ gaze, not daring to make eye contact knowing if he did he would talk more.

“It’s ok you don’t have to keep talking about it,” Terushima said. “Just know I’m always here for you.” 

Daishou just nodded. “Shouldn’t you be heading home? It's late.”

“I was planning on spending the night here if you didn’t mind,” Terushima replied, he didn’t want to make Daishou uncomfortable.

“It’s fine,” Daishou responded. “But have fun sneaking out tomorrow if my parents are home.” 

Terushima laughed quietly. “I will.” Terushima stood up. “Can I borrow some clothes again? Yours are really comfy.”

Daishou smiled slightly. “Yeah sure, you know where they are.”

Terushima smiled and did a little jump which made Daishou laugh which made Terushima smile more. Terushima made his way over to the dresser and took a pair of jogging pants and then went to Daishou’s closet where he grabbed a different hoodie then the one he had put there. Terushima went into the bathroom and changed, coming out 5 minutes later. 

Daishou got up and sat on the bed. Terushima sat next to him. Daishou made the mistake of laying down on his back and he winced, quickly laying on his side. He hoped Terushima hadn’t noticed but of course he had.

“Daishou-” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Daishou interrupted. “It’s fine.”

Terushima sighed. “Just be careful, alright?”

Daishou nodded. There was a small moment of silence. Terushima got up and turned off the light and then rejoined Daishou on the bed. Terushima laid down on his side, his back facing Daishou.

“Terushima.”

“Yeah?”

“How bad is it?”

Terushima hesitated. “Have you not seen it?” he asked, rolling onto his other side to face Daishou’ back. Daishou shook his head. “Want me to show you?” Daishou didn’t say anything, he just nodded. “Ok.”

Terushima took out his phone. “Lay down on your stomach.”

Daishou obeyed and laid on his stomach. Terushima gently lifted up the hoodie and took pictures of the latter’ bruised back with the flash on. Terushima put the hoodie back down when he was done and Daishou rolled onto his other side to face Terushima. Terushima showed him the photos. Daishou didn’t say anything. He was too shocked to speak. He had known the bruises were there, he just didn’t know they were this bad. Daishou grabbed Terushima’ phone to get a better look at the photos.

“It’s really that bad?” Daishou mumbled. Terushima nodded. Daishou sighed. He made the mistake of letting a tear slip out of his eye, after that more and more just kept coming. “Fuck I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize for feeling things,” Terushima said, sitting up. He gently pulled Daishou towards him, putting his head on Terushima’ lap. Daishou for once didn’t oblige at the comfort. More and more tears kept falling from his eyes and Terushima just played with his hair, whispering small words of encouragement.

“It’s ok,” Terushima whispered. “I’m here. You’ll be ok.”

Daishou kept sobbing until no more tears came out of his eyes. He wiped his eyes but he didn’t move from Terushima’ grip. If he was being honest, having Terushima play with his hair was something he really wanted and wasn’t going to let this opportunity slip through his fingers. He found himself falling asleep. Terushima found that out when the dark haired male started snoring softly.

“Goodnight Daishou,” Terushima whispered softly. He put Daishou lying comfortably on his side and got himself into the bed. God how much Terushima loved that boy.


	11. A Funny Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Daishou awoke the next morning, he found himself in his bed alone. Daishou rubbed his eyes processing everything, the events of last night started to fill his head. He cried in Terushima’ arms. My god he probably thinks I’m a baby, Daishou thought to himself. He turned on his phone and saw a text from Terushima.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: HOMOPHOBIA

When Daishou awoke the next morning, he found himself in his bed alone. Daishou rubbed his eyes processing everything, the events of last night started to fill his head. He cried in Terushima’ arms.  _ My god he probably thinks I’m a baby,  _ Daishou thought to himself. He turned on his phone and saw a text from Terushima.

**_[Terushima]: Morning sleepyhead! I snuck out at around 10am, but I hope you’re doing ok. Facetime me when you see this! If you want to of course. Just remember i'm always here for you!_** **_(11:12am)_**

Daishou smiled at the text, he got out of his bed and winced slightly. He went to the bathroom to do his morning routine which consisted of, washing his face, brushing his teeth and combing out his hair. He checked the time and realized it was 1pm.  _ What time did I fall asleep last night? _ He didn’t really care. He went down to the kitchen and saw that there was no one home. He started facetiming Terushima as he grabbed ingredients to make himself some food.

“Morning, well more afternoon,” Terushima said upon answering the call.

“Afternoon,” Daishou replied, his voice dry. He took a cup and filled it with water not realizing how dehydrated he had been, and chugged it down.

“Woah slow down there you’ll choke,” Terushima said, a smirk showed up on his face. Daishou rolled his eyes knowing what he was thinking of. Daishou put some water boiling on the stove and then put some noodles in the pot. 

“Chef Daishou in the house huh?” Terushima said. “Your parents not home?”

“Nope,” Daishou replied, popping the p.

Once he finished cooking the noodles, he strained out the water and then added some butter. He was too tired to do anything fancy. He put some noodles in a bowl and sat down at the dining table placing his phone against his drink. He began to eat his food and talk to Terushima until Terushima had to go due to his siblings fighting again. Daishou washed the dishes, dried them and put them away. He filled up a bottle of water and went back to his room where he started on his homework. Bending over so much did hurt his back but he ignored the pain. He plugged his headphones to his phone and listened to some music while doing his work. He finished his homework after two hours and as if on cue someone texted him.

**_[Terushima]: Wanna practice some volleyball with me? (3:30pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Sure, where? (3:32pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: We can meet up at your school? (3:33pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Alright what time? (3:33pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: I’ve been on my way for about 20 minutes so in an hour? (3:35pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: K, see you then (3:36pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Anyone else going to be there? (3:37pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Oikawa and Daichi are coming with me (3:38pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: That ok? (3:38pm)_ **

**_[Daishou] Yeah it’s fine (3:40pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Kk, see you soon! (3:41pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Bye (3:41pm)_ **

Daishou made sure to get changed before going there instead of changing there. Even when he had regular volleyball practice he either made sure he was the first there, or the last. He didn’t want to risk people asking questions. Before he left he texted  _ both _ his parents saying he’s going to hang out with his friends, he then locked up the house and walked 10 minutes to his school. By the time he got there the three males were getting off the bus.

“Daishou!!” Oikawa yelled, waving his hand dramatically at him. Daishou gave him a small wave.

“Lead the way,” Daichi said, once Daishou had caught up with them. 

Daishou nodded and started walking towards the gym, Terushima at his side since he already knew where it was. 

“Did you?” Daishou whispered to Terushima. Oikawa and Daichi were in their own conversation but Daishou didn’t want to risk them overhearing.

“No, don’t worry,” Terushima whispered back, seeming to know what the latter was talking about. Daishou nodded and didn’t say a thing more. Once they arrived Daishou unlocked the gym door, since he was the captain he had a spare key. He and Terushima opened the doors and walked inside, Daichi and Oikawa followed. Daishou grabbed the net from the storage room and the four boys helped put it up. Daishou brought the volleyballs from the storage room and put them near the net. The four began to stretch and warm up before actually practicing.

“You guys want to play 2 vs 2 after?” Oikawa asked.

“Sure,” Daichi and Terushima said in unison. Daishou shrugged his shoulders but Oikawa took that as a yes.

“Great!”

The four began practicing serves, which Oikawa decided to show off at. Receives, which Daichi showed off at, sets, which Oikawa showed off at again. And finally spikes, which Daishou, Terushima and Daichi both showed off in. Finally it was time to decide the teams for their 2 vs 2 match. 

“Everyone picks a number from 1-10 and whoever picks the one I’m thinking of is my partner,” Oikawa announced.

“Ok, but who said anyone wanted to be on your team?” Daishou asked sarcastically.

“Rude!” Oikawa said, stomping his foot on the ground like a little kid. Daishou rolled his eyes. “Ok now everyone pick a number!”

The three boys thought of a number and nodded their heads when they decided on one. 

“Ok, Daishou which did you think of?” Oikawa asked.

“7,” Daishou responded. Oikawa shook his head.

“Terushima?” 

“6,” Terushima said. Oikawa shook his head once more.

“Daichi?”

“4,” Daichi responded. Oikawa nodded.

“Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!” Oikawa exclaimed.

“I’m not winning anything though?” Daichi said.

“You’re winning being on the winning team,” Oikawa stated, putting a hand on his hip.

“We’ll see about that, Trashykawa,” Terushima said.

Oikawa gasped. “Only Iwa-chan can call me that Teru!” Terushima laughed.

Oikawa and Daichi went over to the other side of the court after a fateful game of rock, paper, scissors decided who served. Daichi had won against Terushima.

“I thought you were good at rock, paper, scissors?” Daishou questioned.

“It’s a game of chance pretty boy, anyone can win,” Terushima responded.

“Like volleyball,” Daishou replied, getting into the receiving position as Oikawa made his way to serve.

“Yeah,” Terushima said. “It’s anybody's game.”

Oikawa served and Daishou missed the receive by an inch. 

“Damn it,” Daishou spat.

“Shake it off, you’ll do fine on the next one,” Terushima encouraged.

Daishou rolled the ball to Oikawa and waited for the next serve. As luck would have it, Daishou received the next ball, it may have been sloppy but it was still received.

“Cover!” Daishou called out as he ran forward. 

Terushima was ready to set for him, and when he did his fingers slipped on the ball making it go further than he wanted it to.

“Stand down!” Daishou heard Daichi say to Oikawa. “He won’t be able to get it!”

_ Oh Daichi,  _ Daishou and Terushima thought,  _ how wrong you are.  _ Daishou adjusted his jump at the last moment, he knew he wouldn’t be able to perfectly spike it down but he knew what he could do. With his left hand, he reached out and bumped the ball over into the other court. When Daishou landed he saw Daichi and Oikawa staring at him dumbfoundedly. Terushima came up to Daishou’s side with his hands up in the air, wanting a high five from Daishou, Daishou obliged.

“That was awesome!” Terushima exclaimed to the latter.

“Thanks,” Daishou said with a small smile. “Your turn to serve.” 

Daishou picked up the ball that was rolled to him and gave it to Terushima. Terushima smirked and backed up getting ready to serve. Daishou faced Oikawa and Daichi and smirked knowing that Terushima had a strong serve. Or so he thought. Terushima must’ve been distracted by something because when he served it didn’t go over the net, instead it hit Daishou right in the back.

“Ow!” Daishou complained, his hand reaching for where the ball had hit him.

“Oh my god!” Terushima exclaimed, running over to Daishou. “I’m so sorry! Are you ok?!” 

Oikawa and Daichi looked at each other and then at the two across the court.  _ The ball couldn’t have hit him that hard,  _ Oikawa thought to himself.  _ It wasn’t that powerful of an attempt. So then why is Terushima so concerned? _

Daishou noticed their confusion and stood up straight, removing his hand from his back. “It’s fine, I’m fine, it was an accident. Don’t worry about it.”

Terushima nodded vigorously and picked up the ball and went back to serve again. 

“Reminds me of when Hinata hit Kageyama in the back of the head at our practice match,” Daichi whispered to Oikawa. “But more caring than angry.”

Oikawa laughed. “Yeah, those two are so in love with each other and they have no idea.” 

Daichi nodded and got ready to receive. Terushima served and the ball went over the net this time, but right into Daichi’s hands. Daichi received it in Oikawa’ direction and Oikawa jumped up, but made it look like he was going to spike. Terushima jumped up to block, but Daishou however didn’t fall for Oikawa’ trick. At the last moment, Oikawa turned and made a setter dump, he clearly didn’t notice Daishou there. Daishou quickly scooped it up and got it over the net, earning him and Terushima another point.

“I totally didn’t see that coming,” Terushima said, giving Daishou another high five. 

“Yeah I realized that,” Daishou replied. Daishou turned, his back facing Oikawa and Daichi and whispered something to Terushima. Terushima nodded and grabbed the ball and went to serve. Daishou turned and faced Daichi and Oikawa once more, who were both ready to receive.

_ “They’re going to think we’re going to aim our serves towards Daichi,”  _ Daishou had told Terushima.  _ “We have to get Daichi as tired as possible.” _

Terushima took a deep breath before serving. He aimed his serve a little behind Daichi and Daichi ran to get it. Terushima mentally gave himself a high five.

“Cover!” Daichi exclaimed to Oikawa.

Oikawa got ready to set to Daichi and Daichi ran from where he was and got ready to jump and spike the ball. Oikawa set it to Daichi and both Terushima and Daishou jumped up to block Daichi. But Daichi was clever enough to adapt to the situation. He tapped the ball lightly with his fingertips for it to go directly over the two, but Terushima was quicker. He turned and before the ball passed his feet he kicked it over the net. Oikawa ran but couldn’t reach it before it hit the ground near where Daichi landed.

“Since when could you move that fast?!” Daishou asked Terushima dumbfoundedly when they landed.

Terushima laughed slightly and shrugged his shoulders. “No idea I just did what I thought was best.”

“I think you’ll do just fine at preliminaries,” Daishou complimented, giving Terushima a high five.

“Yo guys!” Oikawa called out, catching Daishou and Terushima’ attention. “Stop flirting and keep the game going!” 

Daishou rolled his eyes as Terushima laughed and picked up the ball, getting ready to serve once more.

As time passed Daishou and Terushima won the first set, but Oikawa and Daichi pulled through during the second. But in the end, Daishou and Terushima won.

“Good game guys!” Daichi said, giving everyone a high five.

“Yeah!” Oikawa and Terushima exclaimed. Daishou nodded his head slightly, but Terushima knew he had a good time. 

“We should start heading home,” Daishou said, after taking big gulps of water. Everyone nodded their heads and began to help clean the gym. Daichi and Terushima took down the nets, while Oikawa and Daishou grabbed mops from the storage closet.

“Hey Daishou,” Oikawa said. 

Daishou looked at him. “Yeah?”

“Is your back alright?” Oikawa wondered.

“Yeah, why?” Daishou asked, grabbing a mop.

“Because when Terushima hit it earlier you looked like you were in a lot of pain.”

“Oh no it’s fine don’t worry about it,” Daishou replied, leaving the storage room to begin cleaning the gym floors, Oikawa following soon after. 

Once all four of them had finished cleaning the gym they made their way to the front of the school. 

“How are your teams doing before preliminaries?” Daichi asked the three boys.

“Doing alright,” Terushima and Oikawa said in unison, Daishou nodded agreeing with them.

“Good to hear, ours too!” Daichi said happily. 

Daishou walked the three boys to the bus stop and waited for the bus with them. They talked for a while until the bus came and Daishou said goodbye to them. He waved goodbye as the bus drove away and began to walk home. He checked his phone and saw no messages so he assumed his parents had seen his texts and just left him on read. Once he did arrive home he awaited a screaming fest but that didn’t happen. His parents were in the middle of a conversation at the dinner table which Daishou didn’t mind. He took off his shoes and went into the kitchen to get himself a snack.

“Where were you Suguru?” Daishou’ father asked.

“I texted you and mom saying I was hanging out with friends,” Daishou replied, taking an apple out of the fridge and going to the dining room to see his parents.

“Yes I know but I meant where were you?” Daishou’s dad asked once again.

“Oh, we just went into town and walked around a bit,” Daishou lied. Thankfully he was a skilled liar and his parents were gullible and believed it. 

“Alright,” his father replied. “Did you buy anything?”

“No,” Daishou replied. “Didn’t find anything I liked.” 

Daishou’s dad just nodded.

“Want to hear a funny story from today hun?” Daishou’s mom asked.

“Sure,” Daishou replied, not really interested but pretended to be. 

“Ok, so one of my male patients had a male visitor today, and I came in saying I had to take him to his surgery. The visitor said _‘Ok bye babe good luck,'_ kissed him and then left to the waiting room. Like isn’t that so funny? Because it’s obviously a joke, men and men aren’t supposed to be together just like women and women aren’t supposed to be together. Just like god wants.”


	12. A Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daishou thought about what Mika had said, I guess it is true I don’t let anyone hold Shima, I never let my parents hold him or feed him unless I wasn’t going to be home for a few days. Daishou decided not to get hung up on that thought, he turned off his phone and attempted to go to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: HOMOPHOBIA, EFFECTS OF ABUSE

Daishou didn’t know what to say. His parents were homophobic. He should’ve guessed from the way they already treat him.  _ They’re already assholes, why not add homophpbic too.  _

“Right love?” Daishou’s mom asked, looking at his dad. “Men and women are the only two that should be together, like us.”

“Oh yes I agree,” Daishou’ dad admitted. “The men who like men and the women who like women should go to jail and when they die they’ll go to hell. That shouldn’t be allowed.” 

Daishou didn’t say anything, but his parents seemed to have forgotten he was there.  _ Nothing new,  _ Daishou thought to himself. He quietly left the room and went up to his room closing the door. He quickly hopped in the shower and began to cry.

_ How could I be so stupid? Why would I even have the slightest thought of them being supportive of something as big as this? Why did I have to have the worst parents on the face of the earth? Why does it hurt  _ so  _ bad? It’s not like they care about anything other than themselves anyways. Guess I’m going to hell according to my dad. _

Those were some thoughts going through Daishou’ head at that moment. He got out of the shower and put some ointment on the bruises on his back that he could reach. Getting hit in the back with a volleyball earlier had made the bruises start to hurt more than they already were. He didn’t blame Terushima though, he didn’t do it on purpose.  _ Or did her?  _ He shook the thought out of his mind.  _ Terushima had promised he wouldn’t hurt me. He better keep that promise.  _ Daishou changed into a hoodie, to be more specific the hoodie Terushima had given back, and his jogging pants. He laid on his stomach on his bed. He texted Terushima letting him know that he had arrived home.

**_[Daishou]: I’m home in case you were wondering. (5:45pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: I was about to ask haha (5:46pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: You ok? You never text with punctuation (5:46pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Yeah I’m fine don’t worry (5:47pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: I thought you were done lying to me :( (5:48pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: I’m not don’t worry (5:49pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Can I come over to your house tmr? I need to talk to you about something (5:51pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Yeah sure (5:52pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Also you don’t have to ask to come over, you’re always welcomed :) (5:52pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Thanks (5:54pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Gtg talk later!! (5:55pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Kk, bye (5:57pm)_ **

Daishou received a call from Mika just 2 minutes after finishing texting Terushima. He answered.

“I just finished texting someone as you called me,” Daishou stated when the call connected.

“Really?” Mika questioned. “Guess I’m a mind reader or something.” 

Daishou laughed quietly.

“You really need to stop hiding your emotions so much,” Mika said. “If you’re happy just show it, if you’re sad show it, if you’re angry show it. I’m tired of being the only one able to interpret your feelings.”

“Hey you’re not the  _ only _ one,” Daishou replied, though he regretted saying anything at all.

“Oh really who?” Mika asked. Daishou stayed silent.

“Would you look at that you said nothing,” Mika said.

“I just don’t want to tell you who, ok?” 

“Ok! Ok! I’m just playing with you,” Mika said laughing slightly.

“Yeah I know,” Daishou replied, rolling his eyes.

“You need to stop rolling your eyes 24/7,” Mika added.

“Anything else I need to stop doing?” Daishou asked sarcastically.

“I’ll let you know.”

“You know this end call button is looking really good right now,” Daishou said.

“I’m just joking jeez!” Mika exclaimed.

They talked for about an hour until Mika said she had to go. Daishou was hungry but he didn’t go and eat anything, he was scared of being yelled at. Mika suddenly texted him at around 7:30pm.

**_[Mika]: Oi, I know something’s wrong come over (7:32pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Nothing’s wrong?? (7:34pm)_ **

**_[Mika]: Don’t bullshit with me (7:35pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: My parents aren’t going to let me leave anyways (7:36pm)_ **

**_[Mika]: They will if it’s for me (7:38pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Ugh you’re stubborn you know that? (7:39pm)_ **

**_[Mika]: Don’t care I’ll be waiting (7:40pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Yeah yeah (7:41pm)_ **

Daishou did not want to go but he did anyway knowing if he didn’t she would come over to his house. He went downstairs and put his shoes on getting ready to leave.

“Where are you going Suguru?” Daishou’ dad asked.

“Going to Mika’ house,” Daishou replied. “Be back later.”

“Alright bye,” Daishou’ dad said, turning his attention back to the TV.

Daishou left the house and made his way to Mika’ house. When he did arrive he took the spare key from under the welcome mat outside the front door. Having been here so often, Mika’ parents sought it best to put a spare key for him. He unlocked the door, took off his shoes and made his way to Mika’ room.

“Oi!” Daishou called out when he went inside Mika’ room.

“Yeah, yeah hold on a second,” Mika said.

Daishou sat on the edge of her bed. Mika, who was working on homework, finished writing something, closed her book and put it away. Mika then turned her attention to Daishou.

“So what's wrong?” she asked.

“I told you there was nothing wrong,” Daishou replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

“And I told you to not bullshit with me,” she replied sternly. “Now tell me what’s fucking wrong.”

“You got any food?” Daishou avoided the question.

“Yeah, but after that you’re telling me what’s wrong,” she said.

The two went down to the kitchen and Mika grabbed some leftovers from the fridge and put them warming up. Daishou said hello to Mika’ parents and then joined Mika in the kitchen. Mika put the food onto a plate and gave it to Daishou. Daishou took a fork and then sat in their dining room and ate it. Daishou ate the food fairly quickly due to how hungry he was, even though he hadn’t realized it. 

“Jeez,” Mika said. “Have room to breathe there?”

“Sorry,” Daishou apologized. “I was hungry.”

“Yeah I figured that out.”

Daishou put the plate and fork in their dishwasher and then followed Mika back up to her room. 

“Now,” she said, sitting on her bed. “Tell me what’s up.”

Daishou rolled his eyes, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to escape Mika so he decided to just tell her. He told her everything. From how he liked Terushima, which she celebrated about the confession, to how his parents felt about the gay community, which she stopped celebrating. She tried to give him a hug but Daishou pushed her off.

“There’s nothing you or I could do about it,” Daishou said. “So now I just have to live with it.”

“You’re going to talk to Terushima tomorrow aren’t you?” Mika guessed. “Not tell him about how you like him, but tell him about how your parents are homophobic.”

“Are you sure you’re not a psychic?” Daishou asked rhetorically, while laughing. “But um, yeah I was planning on it. Is that a bad idea?”

“No! It’s a good one,” Mika said. “But I hope you’re aware by telling Terushima that your parents are homophobic he’s most likely going to ask if you’re gay or pansexual like him, or something along those lines.”

“He probably won’t,” Daishou said. “He’s too dense.”

“No he isn’t and you know he isn’t.”

“Shut up,” Daishou said, laughing slightly. 

“You know I’m right,” Mika said.

“Let's' hope you’re wrong for once,” Daishou said plainly. “I better get going, thanks for the food.”

“You’re welcome,” Mika said. “I’ll walk you out.”

Daishou stood up and went downstairs, Mika following behind him. He put his shoes back on and walked out the front door. He put the key back under the welcome mat, said bye to Mika and made his way home. When he got home it was around 9:30pm, he took off his shoes and made his way to his room.

“Why’d you go to Mika’ house?” Daishou’ mom asked.

“Her parents needed help with something,” Daishou lied. 

“Alright,” she replied, once more turning her attention towards the TV.

Daishou went into his room and closed the door. He let out a heavy sigh.  _ How much more am I going to have to lie to them?  _ He wondered. He turned on his laptop and watched his show until around 11pm where he started to feel tired. He did his nightly routine and then he turned off his laptop and fed Shima some food, as he had forgotten to before. He turned off his lights but as he got into bed and went to text his friends goodnight, he got a sudden burst of energy and he had no clue why. He ended up staying up an hour more texting Mika and playing games. 

**_[Mika]: Sooooooooo (12:10am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: ??? (12:11am)_ **

**_[Mika]: How long have you liked him? :) (12:11am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Why do you wanna know? (12:12am)_ **

**_[Mika]: Is it bad I want to know things about who my best friend likes? (12:12am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: I guess not… (12:14am)_ **

**_[Mika]: So then tell me (12:15am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: I liked him for a couple years I think (12:16am)_ **

**_[Mika]: AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME?! (12:17am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Because this is what you would’ve done (12:18am)_ **

**_[Mika]: Fair point, anyways, why do you like him? (12:19am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: I don’t know I just do ok (12:21am)_ **

**_[Mika]: Liar, tell me every reason (12:22am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: I really hate you being so interested in my personal life (12:23am)_ **

**_[Mika]: Hehe I don’t care now tell me (12:24am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Um, I like the way he’s able to make everyone smile the moment he walks into a room, I like how he doesn’t let something someone says affect him. I like how he truly cares for his friends and family. I like how he’s so dumb it’s funny. I like how when he’s thinking really hard about something his tongue sticks out a bit, making his piercing stick out too. I like it when his eyes sparkle when he’s about to spike a ball or when he held my snake, or how- (12:28am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: I ran out of room haha (12:28am)_ **

**_[Mika]: Ok so you’re in love with him (12:29am)_ **

**_[Mika]: Wait a second (12:31am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Huh? (12:32am)_ **

**_[Mika]: You let him touch your snake? (12:33am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Yeah? So? (12:34am)_ **

**_[Mika]: YOU NEVER LET ANYONE TOUCH SHIMA? YOU NEARLY CUT MY HAND OFF THE FIRST TIME I TRIED TO PET HIM! (12:35am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Haha sorry about that (12:36am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: He was staying over at my house one night and he found out I had a snake and he wanted to hold it so I let him (12:37am)_ **

**_[Mika]: You still glare at me when I try to even feed your snake and you just let him hold it :0 You must really like Terushima huh? (12:38am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Goodnight Mika (12:40am)_ **

**_[Mika]: LOSER ANSWER THE QUESTION (12:40am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Fine yeah I really like him but it’s not like he likes me back so whatever (12:41am)_ **

**_[Mika]: Don’t think that ): (12:41am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Too late (12:43am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Anyways goodnight Mika (12:43am)_ **

**_[Mika]: Goodnight ugly (12:44am)_ **

**_[Daishou]: You’re uglier shut up (12:45am)_ **

Daishou thought about what Mika had said,  _ I guess it is true I don’t let anyone hold Shima, I never let my parents hold him or feed him unless I wasn’t going to be home for a few days. _ Daishou decided not to get hung up on that thought, he turned off his phone and attempted to go to sleep. 

In his attempt his mind kept filling up with thoughts.  _ There has to be someone else I’ve let hold Shima right? Right? Mika has touched Shima before, but I didn't let her so willingly like I did him. I only let people I truly care about hold Shima. Why would Terushima even like my snake though? Most people are terrified of snakes, they scream, cry and run from them. So why is he so interested in them? I mean he prefers cats. Ugh this is stupid why am I thinking of this, shut up brain.  _

He continuously attempted to fall asleep yet he didn’t until around three in the morning. 


	13. The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What did he want to talk about? What did Daishou, the one who never makes plans, want to talk about that he would offer to go to his house to talk to him? A confession? Terushima doubted Daishou would confess to him, why would he anyway?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: MENTIONS HOMOPHOBIA
> 
> Sorry for the really short chapter oops.

_What did he want to talk about?_ That was all Terushima could think about since 6pm. _What did Daishou, the one who never makes plans, want to talk about that he would_ offer _to go to his house to talk to him?_ _A c_ _onfession?_ Terushima doubted Daishou would confess to him, why would he anyway? Terushima was a handful, he knew this, so why would he want to talk to him about something? _Did something happen to him?_ Terushima couldn’t sleep until around three in the morning, which most definitely was not good for him because he awoke two hours later for no apparent reason. He was frustrated, he kept tossing and turning in his bed but just couldn’t fall asleep. At one point he just gave up entirely, he sat up in his bed staring at his ceiling. Terushima hated that he couldn’t sleep, he knew he was going to be tired all day, _thank god today’s Sunday._ Terushima stared at his ceiling until he saw the sun start to come up from his window. He rubbed his eyes and quietly went down into his kitchen to get himself some food and a cup of coffee. He grabbed a granola bar and quietly made his coffee and then went back to his room, closing his door and getting back into his bed. 

He turned on his laptop and watched his show since he decided he wasn’t going to sleep until later that evening. 

Minutes and hours passed in an instant next thing he knew his mom was knocking on his door. 

“Honey?” his mom said. “Are you awake?”

“Yeah I am,” he replied, hiding his empty cup of coffee.

His mom opened the door. “Your dad and I are going out, lunch is in the fridge. Please warm it up for Yuuki and Suku.”

“Yeah no problem,” Terushima said. “Oh by the way Daishou is going to be coming over some time today.”

“Alright, he can eat dinner with us again if he wants to.”

“I’ll let him know,” Terushima said smiling.

“Bye now,” his mom said walking out of the room, closing the door behind her. It was currently 11 am so he had some time before his siblings would start complaining about being hungry. He continued to watch his show. Once he finished the show his siblings barged into his room begging for food.

“Ok ok, let me go warm it up.”

Terushima got out of bed a little too quickly, he started seeing black spots but he pushed that off as a lack of water and went downstairs to warm up their food. He took out two plates, one for Yuuki and one for Suku. He put the food in the microwave and got himself a cup of water. When it was done heating up he put it on the plates and gave it to his siblings, they got themselves utensils and drinks. 

“Are you not going to eat with us Yuuji?” Suku asked, starting on his meal.

“No, I’m not hungry,” he replied. 

"You're never hungry anymore," Suku noticed.

Terushima ruffled his brother' hair. "Don't worry about it, I ate earlier." He sat down at the table watching his siblings eat their food until he heard the doorbell ring. “I’ll get that.”

Terushima opened the door and there stood Daishou.

“Hey,” Daishou said, Terushima moved out of the way so Daishou could come inside. Daishou entered and Terushima locked the door behind him.

“Daishou-chan!!” Yuuki exclaimed from the dining room, upon seeing him. Daishou waved at her and took off his shoes. 

“They’re eating lunch now,” he told him walking to the dining room.

“I can see that,” Daishou said, following him into the dining room.

“Hi Daishou-chan!” Suku exclaimed.

“Hi,” Daishou said with a small smile. 

Suku and Yuuki continued their lunch and talked with Daishou. Terushima couldn’t help but smile at their interactions.  _ Daishou is great with kids,  _ he made a small mental note that he would be sure he wouldn’t forget. Terushima put his head on the palm of his hand and lent it on the table and stared admiringly at Daishou. A few minutes later he feels a hard kick on his leg from under the table.

“OW!” Terushima shrieked. “WHO DID THAT?!”

“Nii-chan!” Yuuki said. “You were staring at Daishou-chan!!”

Terushima let his mouth drop open slightly. “I-I was not!”

“Yes you were!!” Yuuki exclaimed. 

Terushima rolled his eyes, “You’re seeing things young lady.”

“Am not!!” 

“Uh huh!” Terushima said. Daishou started to laugh, making Yuuki and Terushima stop arguing. 

“S-Sorry,” Daishou stuttered through laughs. 

Terushima began to laugh, Suku and Yuuki following soon after. Soon the whole house was filled with the sound of laughter. A sound that felt abandoned in their house. Terushima was grateful it was back again. Once everyone had calmed down Suku and Yuuki finished their food and went into the living room to watch TV. 

“Want something to eat?” Terushima asked Daishou.

“No thanks I ate already,” Daishou lied.

Terushima raised an eyebrow. “Yeah ok just like I totally didn’t wake up at five in the morning and wasn’t able to go back to sleep.”

“I couldn’t fall asleep last night either!” Daishou announced. 

“Really?” he questioned. “Weird. Anyways I’ll warm something up for you.”

Terushima walked over to the kitchen, Daishou following behind him.

“Fine,” Daishou said. “But only if you eat something too, don’t try to deny it, I know you haven’t eaten anything.”

“Jeez are you like stalking me or something?” Terushima joked.

“No, I just saw that you didn’t have a plate but Yuuki and Suku did.”

“Fine, I’ll eat something,” Terushima said. “By the way my mom says you can join us for dinner if you want.”

“Sure,” Daishou agreed. “Anything to stay away from my place.”

“Is everything okay?” Terushima asked, while putting more food in the microwave.

“I’ll tell you after,” Daishou replied. The way Daishou looked at him, Terushima could see in his eyes he was scared. Terushima nodded and continued doing what he was doing. He got the two of them drinks and then went back to the dining room to eat their meal. Once they were done they brought the plates to the kitchen and Terushima began washing them. 

“Suku!” Terushima called out when he was finished washing them. “Don’t forget to put the dishes away!”

“I won’t!” Suku replied from the living room.

Terushima and Daishou went up to Terushima’ room. Once Daishou entered, Terushima shut the door and sat on his bed, Daishou sat next to him.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Terushima asked Daishou.

“Oh, um,” Daishou said. Daishou pulled his knees to his chest. “Well, m-my parents.” Daishou’ eyes met the floor.

“Hey, it’s ok,” Terushima said. “Don’t rush it just tell me when you’re ready.”

Daishou nodded and took a few deep breaths. “My parents th-they’re homophobic.” 

Terushima looked confused for a moment. “But why does it matter? It wouldn’t matter unless you’re…” 

Daishou’s eyes stayed fixed on the floor.

“Daishou are you gay?”


	14. Call Me Yuuji

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terushima sighed. “If you’re not going to confess your love to me then just go!” Terushima put his hand on his heart and turned his head away dramatically.
> 
> “You’re such a loser,” Daishou said laughing slightly. “Bye Terushima.”
> 
> “Call me Yuuji!” Terushima exclaimed out of nowhere, as Daishou was half way down his lawn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fluff asf!

_ Damn Mika! Why does she have to be right about everything?!  _ That was the first thing Daishou thought about upon hearing what Terushima had said.  “Um,” Daishou replied. “Yeah I am.”

Daishou couldn’t see Terushima’ face and if he was being honest he didn’t want to.

“That’s…” Terushima said. “Amazing!”

“Huh?” Daishou questioned and looked up at Terushima. He saw Terushima with sparkles in his eyes, as if he heard the best news ever.

“Well not that amazing because of your parents and all,” Terushima said. “But amazing! Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me!”

Terushima had the biggest smile plastered on his face. _'_ _ Why?'  _ Daishou’ mouth hung open slightly.

“You can live with me! Or find an apartment or something!” Terushima rambelled.

Daishou put his finger onto Terushima’ lips, making him stop talking.

“That’s not a bad idea.” Daishou mumbled.

Terushima smirked. "What? Living with me?"

“No idiot,” Daishou laughed, hitting the back of Terushima’ head. “Finding an apartment, obviously I’d need some money...”

Now Daishou started to ramble, all he needed was a job, he supposed he’d have to deal with them for a bit longer until he could live somewhere else.

“Oi!” Terushima said, snapping Daishou out of his thoughts. “You’re still going to have to live somewhere else until you have enough money to rent an apartment, so live here.”

“You do realize my school is not in your prefecture,” Daishou stated. “I don’t feel like waking up at five in the morning everyday to get to school on time.”

“Oh right,” Terushima said, his smile leaving his face.

“I’m flattered you would offer but I’d probably be better off at like Mika’ house or something.” Daishou reassured, not wanting Terushima to feel bad.

“Yeah that’d probably be smarter,” Terushima agreed. “I jumped to conclusions a bit there.”

“It’s fine, but thank you.”

“What do you want to do until dinner?” Terushima asked.

Daishou shrugged his shoulders. “What do you want to do?”

“I mean I want to make out with you,” Terushima flirted. “But I know you’d say no.” 

Daishou rolled his eyes, “In your dreams.” 

_ Why do I have to be so stubborn, if you want to kiss him so bad just do it. _

“How about a movie marathon?” Terushima suggested.

Daishou shrugged his shoulders. “Sure.” 

“I’ll make some popcorn, open my laptop and find something to watch.”

Daishou nodded and sat on Terushima’ bed while Terushima went down to the kitchen. While Daishou waited for the laptop to turn on he took a good look around Terushima’ room. He had a fairly big room with a big bed, a desk, a dresser and what seemed to look like a small walk in closet. He had his own personal bathroom like Daishou, his room was fairly clean other than the clothes on the floor by the dresser, it seemed Terushima was too lazy to put them away.

Daishou went onto a website and went hunting for a movie to watch, he decided on ‘Doukyuusei’. Daishou loaded the movie and paused it before it started, the movie was only an hour long but from what Daishou had heard about it, it was pretty good. If anything Terushima did say a movie ‘marathon’ so they would be able to watch multiple movies.

When Terushima entered the room once more, he held a big bowl full of popcorn, two drinks in his sweatpants pockets and what seemed to be candy sticking out of his hoodie pocket.

“Wow,” Daishou said. “You came prepared.” 

“I like movie marathons,” Terushima admitted. He put the bowl of popcorn by Daishou which Daishou took. He took out the two drinks and put them on the desk next to his bed and then took out the candy and placed them next to the drinks. Terushima closed the door and then joined Daishou on the bed. 

“What movie are we watching?” Terushima asked.

“Doukyuusei,” Daishou answered.

“Oh,” Terushima said, dragging the 'O'. “I heard it’s a good one.”

“So did I,” Daishou responded. 

Daishou started the movie and moved slightly closer to Terushima. He felt safe with Terushima next to him. He didn’t know why he always felt safe with him by his side, but he knew he could always count on him to be there. Daishou wasn’t much for people touching him or comforting him, but with Terushima it just felt… _right_. Daishou paid attention to the movie in front of him, already within the first ten minutes the two protagonists had kissed. Nobody had told Daishou this was a movie about gay couples but he didn’t complain. He took a quick glance over at Terushima who seemed very interested in the movie, his eyes were glued to the screen, absorbing everything the characters said. That was one thing he adored about Terushima, whenever you talked to him, about anything, he always looked so interested in what you had to say, and it made you more comfortable to talk to him. But he also hated it, because whenever Terushima wanted to know something about Daishou, it was hard not to tell him, eventually you just give in. Daishou took a handful of popcorn and shoved it in his mouth, yes he ate like a pig during movies. Did he care? Not one bit. Terushima must’ve seen what Daishou had done because he started laughing slightly.

“Sorry,” Terushima whispered, covering his mouth to muffle his laughs.

_ Do it. Flirt with him. _

_ No he’s just gonna reject me. _

_ Would you just do it, you won’t know until you do. _

_ But he’ll- _

“Don’t cover your laugh, it's cute,” Daishou said suddenly.

Terushima looked at him dumbfoundedly, his mouth hanging open slightly.

_ Why would you do that now he thinks you’re weird. Stupid Daishou! Stupid! _

“Really?” Terushima questioned.

“Huh?” Daishou said. “Oh yeah.”

“Yours too,” Terushima said, smiling and then turned his attention back to the movie. 

With the poor lighting, Daishou was glad Terushima couldn’t see him blushing like a maniac. The movie finished rather quickly and next thing he knew Terushima was searching for another movie.

“Hmmmm,” Terushima said. “How about ‘Spirited Away’?” 

Daishou shrugged his shoulders. “Sure.”

Terushima put on the movie and grabbed his drink from his desk.

“Can you pass me a drink?” Daishou whispered.

Terushima grabbed the one which Daishou assumed was for himself and passed it to Daishou. “Here.”

“Thanks,” Daishou thanked. He opened the bottle of what he believed to be iced tea and drank it. Daishou had come to realize it was most definitely  _ not  _ iced tea. “Ugh, what is this?”

“Um I don’t know,” Terushima said. “‘Is it not iced tea?”

“Doesn’t taste like it,” Daishou said. He looked for the label and when he found it it read, ‘Cold Brew’. “It’s cold brew.”

“Oops,” Terushima said. “Sorry! I’ll get you an iced tea!”

“No it's fi-” before Daishou could finish his sentence, Terushima had grabbed the bottle out of Daishou’ hands and ran down to the kitchen. “Well then.” 

Terushima returned with two bottles of iced tea, “Here.” He handed them to Daishou which he took.

“You didn’t have to. I would’ve been fine with the cold brew,” Daishou said.

“Sorry,” Terushima said. Terushima said nothing more and sat next to Daishou.  The two started the movie and half way through Daishou felt a heavy weight on his shoulder. Daishou looked and saw Terushima’ head on his shoulder, he wasn’t asleep but it was still cute. Daishou played with Terushima’ soft blonde hair, smiling slightly. When the movie finished Daishou heard the front door close. He heard heavy footsteps come up the stairs and stop in front of Terushima’ room. Someone slowly opened the door and peeped their head in. It was Terushima’ dad.

“Just letting you know we’re-” his dad said. “Oh sorry. Hello Daishou.”

“Hi,” Daishou replied quietly. 

Terushima lifted his head from Daishou’ shoulder. “Welcome home dad.” 

“Thank you,” his dad replied. “We bought take out, come down when you’re ready.”

Terushima nodded and rubbed his eyes. Terushima’ dad closed the door and went back down the stairs. 

“Sorry,” Terushima mumbled. “I know you don’t like people touching you.”

“It’s fine,” Daishou said quickly. He stood up and stretched. Not standing up for over three hours probably wasn’t in his best interest. Terushima closed his laptop and cleaned the food off his bed. 

“You hungry?” Terushima asked as he took his drink off his desk.

“I could eat,” Daishou said. Terushima nodded. Daishou picked up his drinks and walked towards Terushima. The latter opened the door and went down the stairs, Daishou following soon after. 

“Hi sweetheart,” Terushima’ mom said upon seeing Terushima and kissed his cheek. “Hello Daishou.”

“Hi,” the two said in unison. Terushima kissed his mom on the top of the head, as he was taller than she.  Daishou smiled slightly and took a seat next to Suku and an empty seat which Terushima took. They prayed and then began to eat, Daishou didn’t eat much but the rest of the Terushima household ate very well. Even Terushima, though they ate a whole bowl of popcorn and two bags of candy, he ate a lot. They must’ve not gotten take-out often because they savored the food. Once Terushima and Daishou had both finished their meal, Daishou thanked Terushima’ parents and the two went up to Terushima’ room. 

“Want to watch another movie?” Terushima asked.

“I should probably start heading home,” Daishou said, looking at the time.  _ It’s 7:30 already,  _ Daishou thought to himself,  _ my parents will be mad enough as it is. _

“Oh ok, I’ll walk you out.”

Daishou nodded and gathered his things. Terushima waited for him to finish and then walked him downstairs to the front door.

“Bye bye!” Yuuki shouted from the living room.

“Bye!” Daishou responded. “Thank you for the food!”

“No problem at all! You’re always welcomed here!” Terushima’ mom exclaimed. 

Daishou smiled and stepped outside and Terushima leaned against the door frame.

“See you Friday,” Terushima said.

“Yeah,” Daishou replied. “And um, thank you.”

“Wow  _ the  _ Daishou is thanking me for something?” Terushima joked.

Daishou rolled his eyes, “Shut up.”

Terushima laughed. “You don’t have to thank me for anything, ok? Besides, I know you’re in love with me.”

Now Daishou laughed,  _ why am I laughing?  _ “You wish dumbass.”

Terushima sighed. “If you’re not going to confess your love to me then just go!” Terushima put his hand on his heart and turned his head away dramatically.

“You’re such a loser,” Daishou said laughing slightly. “Bye Terushima.”

“Call me Yuuji!” Terushima exclaimed out of nowhere, as Daishou was half way down his lawn. 


	15. Insecurities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Goodnight Yuuji."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: MENTIONS OF SELF-HARMA AND EATING DISORDERS

He turned to face Terushima. "Huh?"

_ Fuck, shit, oh my god, he probably thinks I’m crazy. _

“Only if you want to though,” Terushima replied quickly.

Daishou smiled. "Goodnight Yuuji," he said while turning around and walking away. Terushima smiled slightly and then went back inside his house, closing the door.

“So first name basis?” Terushima’ mom said, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

“Mom come on,” Terushima said, rolling his eyes. “It’s not like that okay?”

“Mhm. Okay.”

Terushima went back up to his room, he finished the homework he hadn’t finished from the past two days. It took him longer the he expected, which he didn’t exactly know why. He wondered why his mom was so caught up in his love life, he didn’t like to talk to his family about himself. He tried as often as he could to drift the conversation onto something else, or assist someone with their problems. He knew he shouldn’t keep his feelings bottled up, in any case he was being a hypocrite. He constantly told people it was alright to open up about their feelings, and talk about them, but he couldn’t own up to his words. He occasionally opened up to certain people, but sooner or later they walked out of his life, so much that he sort of stopped trusting people. He didn’t know why but he tended to blame himself because of it, though deep down he knew it wasn’t his fault. People just grew up and lost friends along the way. Whether they just grew distant or had fights, they ended. So few friendships last for a long time, but he knew he wanted at least one to last forever. He and Daishou. He knew so much about Daishou, yet Daishou truly knew so little about him. Yes he did have problems of his own, but he was somehow good at covering it up. His problems weren’t as big as Daishou’ or other peoples so most of the time he felt as if he shouldn’t be feeling upset towards his own troubles. He had a family that loved him, friends that cared for him. Yet he felt lonely.

_ How do you feel lonely in a world filled with so many people? _

He sighed, taking a break from his homework, he got up and went to the bathroom. He was the oldest yet he had the smallest room in the house, he was at least blessed to have his own room, Yuuki and Suku had to share a room. You may think, ‘ _ shouldn’t the only girl get her own room?’  _ Trust me Terushima thought so too. Yet he still had his own room, and bathroom. He stared at himself in the mirror, taking in every little detail on his face. Was he really that ugly like those people had said he was? Was he really so disgusting and inhumane? He rinsed his face, washing away the tears that had been starting to come out.

“Fuck,” he mumbled into his hands.

He stayed in the bathroom for a while, just looking at himself, occasionally some tears would fall out of his eyes, but he’d quickly wipe them away. He took a few deep breaths and then walked out of the bathroom as if nothing had happened. He continued on his work occasionally stopping to breathe calmly. Daishou texted him that he arrived home once he finished his homework. The two decided to call, despite just seeing each other before.

“Hey,” he said to Daishou, once he answered the call.

“Hey,” Daishou said softly. “You ok?”

“Huh? Yeah why?”

“Just your eyes look red and puffy,” Daishou noticed.

_ How could I have been so stupid? Of course Daishou and his impeccable eye sight would have been able to see that. _

“Yeah I’m fine,” he replied.

_ No Terushima you’re not, talk to him.  _ He told the voice in his head to shut up.

“Yuuji don’t lie to me,” Daishou said sternly, Terushima smiled at him calling him by his given name.

“I’m ok, honestly,” Terushima said. “Have you figured out what you’re gonna do?”

“Don’t go switching the subject on me. I won’t have it,” Daishou said. 

“Daishou-” 

“No,” Daishou interrupted. “You’re always talking about how I shouldn’t be afraid to talk about my feelings, but what about you? It’s your turn to talk.”

Terushima said nothing for a while. “How do I feel lonely in a world full of people?”

“What do you mean?” Daishou wondered.

Terushima sighed. “I’m surrounded by so many people, people who care for me, love me and people I don’t know, yet I still feel so god damn alone. I don’t even know why I do, I’m aware that I have people who love me so much yet, it doesn’t seem to process in my mind that there really are people who’ll care for me beyond rationality. Sorry for talking so much.”

“It’s ok Yuuji,” Daishou said. “Keep talking, just let it all out.”

“I just feel so disgusting all the time, I don’t feel confident like everyone thinks I am, I just- I just don’t know what to do anymore.” Terushima choked back a sob. “I try so hard to keep a happy face on all the time, and yet no one sees that I’m just not. I try to make others around me happy, so that at least they can experience it, b-but sometimes I want to be the one to experience it.” He made the mistake of letting out a deep breath, tears began to fall out of his eyes, “fuck.”

“Don’t be afraid to show emotions, Yuuji.”

“I know,” Terushima replied. He brought his phone with him into his bathroom. He slid down his bathroom door, he started to cry more. The tears just wouldn’t stop coming out, Terushima eventually muted himself.

“It’s okay Yuuji,” Daishou would whisper occasionally. “Just keep crying, it’ll get better soon.” 

Terushima nodded. He unmuted himself when he had calmed down a bit more. “S-Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” Daishou replied. “You have nothing to apologize for.”

Terushima let out a shaky breath, but he nodded. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Daishou replied. “You can always talk to me, you know that now.”

Terushima nodded. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah,” Daishou answered. “Yeah, I’ve been ok lately. I talked to you about everything earlier.”

Terushima nodded. “That’s good, so what are you going to do? Where are you going to go?”

“I think I’m going to go to Mika’ place,” Daishou said. “I know her parents and they’d be cool with it. They’d probably ask a few questions but they wouldn’t call my parents about me being there. I just don’t know when I’d be able to get my stuff there.” 

“Maybe start bringing little things to school and giving it to her there,” Terushima suggested. “Like some clothes, shoes, hoodies, I’m sure you don’t need the 18 you have there all the time.”

“It’s 25 now,” Daishou stated, laughing a bit.

“25?” Terushima questioned, his mouth hanging open slightly. He shut it when he felt himself starting to drool.

“Yeah I went on a hoodie shopping spree a few weeks ago.”

Terushima laughed. “Wow, that’s a lot jeez. But yeah, give her some stuff, and if your parents say anything just say your friend needs it or something.”

Daishou nodded. “Good idea.”

“Look at me having so many good ideas today,” Terushima said, feeling accomplished. “I deserve a kiss.”

“In your dreams idiot,” Daishou said, rolling his eyes. “But honestly, thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

They talked for a bit longer until Terushima started getting tired. They hung up and Terushima went and got himself ready for bed. He looked at himself once more in the mirror and scoffed. He hated the way he looked. He attempted to make himself more confident and attractive by having a tongue piercing and ear piercings, but it didn’t do him much justice. He dyed his hair not too long ago after getting out of a relationship, the relationship was toxic, but he was only in it to try and get over Daishou. It failed clearly, but in the midst of the relationship, she started to get really judgmental and toxic. Terushima tried to leave as soon as he could but the damage was done. Terushima did not have the best experiences with past lovers, and he didn’t think that would change any time soon. But right now he didn’t want to get into another one, he had his trust broken too many times, he didn’t think he could handle it anymore. He always thought he was in the wrong, that he was the one at fault for all his failed relationships. Because that’s what all his previous lovers implied. They would tell him how much of a burden he was. When he was left alone, abandoned by his lovers and friends, he felt naked, exposed. He never understood why people left, you came into it for a reason didn’t you? Why go now? He always felt like he was at fault for people leaving his life, no matter how many times someone would tell him it wasn’t, he continued to believe it was. Was he really that annoying as people said? Was he such a burden nobody wanted to be around him? They just forced themselves to? 

He let out a shaky breath.  _ No.  _ He told himself.  _ Don’t start this again, not after last time.  _ He put on a hoodie and tucked his hands in the sleeves, leaving only his fingertips slightly hanging out. He liked oversized clothes. It was easier to feel more confident, without having to worry about people seeing your true body image. There were times Terushima didn’t care but that was quickly shut down. Seeing guys with perfect abs and no stomach, that’s what he aspired to be like. Terushima couldn’t believe he could get more fit than he already was, he did volleyball five days a week, worked out at least twice a week, and he walked to and from school, sometimes ran. But he didn’t believe that was enough. He started skipping meals, skipping days of eating. After what happened last time, he started eating a little more, at least twice a day. He still had the scars on his wrist and legs from the few years previous. They had mostly faded away, but there are still plenty that haven’t faded yet. He tried not to think about it, they weren’t his finest moments, yet again when did he ever have those?  _ He cares.  _ He told himself.  _ He wouldn’t lie, would he? No he wouldn’t.  _ Terushima tried to convince himself everyday, that Daishou was there for him, like he was there for Daishou. He could only hope. There are times when Terushima feels like he’s at his lowest and yet Daishou suddenly texts him, unexpectedly, as if he knew that’s all Terushima needed to stay.  _ But where is he now?  _ It was getting late, it was almost twelve in the morning and he had school the next day. He turned off his light and went to bed, attempting to fall asleep.

* * *

When he awoke the next morning, due to his mom yelling at him because he was going to be late to school, he really wished he hadn’t thought about all that yesterday. He quickly changed into his school uniform and threw his volleyball clothes in his bag and ran out the door.  _ Please don’t be late, I can’t afford anymore lates. _

He was late.

He got inside his class around twenty minutes late, followed by many stares from his classmates. He sat in his usual seat and sunk into his seat, covering his head with the hood of his hoodie. As much as many people thought differently, Terushima hated attention, or at least this type of attention. 

“Where have you been?” Bobata whispered from beside him. 

“Woke up late,” Terushima replied. Bobata just nodded, not asking any further questions. He continued to take notes on whatever the teacher was teaching, Terushima could care less. He rested his head on his desk and eventually fell asleep once more. 

He got awakened by someone shaking him. “Huh?” he said while waking up looking around confused. People began to snicker, which Terushima tried to ignore.

“Is there a reason why you’re asleep in my class?” The teacher asked, glaring at him. 

“Sorry,” Terushima apologized.

“Pft.” 

Terushima rubbed his eyes, he looked to his friends next to him and saw them with a book in their hands.

“I'm sorry, but what are we doing?” Terushima asked.

“Maybe if you were paying attention this wouldn’t be a problem,” the teacher barked.

“I apologized, sorry I stayed up late doing the homework that you assigned for us at 10 o’clock at night.” He lied.

That made the teacher stay silent. The class was filled with  _ ooo _ ’s and laughter, but he didn’t care.

He only twisted the truth, it was true the teacher assigned it at 10 o’clock at night but he had gotten it out of the way rather quickly, he stayed up doing other things. 

“We’re reading the book we started two weeks ago,” the teacher said.

“I wasn’t here two weeks ago,” Terushima replied.

“Sorry I forgot come pick up a book,” the teacher said, walking to the cabinet in front of the class and taking out a book. Terushima walked over to the teacher and took the book.

On his way back to his seat the teacher said this, “Think about talking back to me again and you’re straight to the principal’s office young man.”

Thank god his back was facing the teacher because he rolled his eyes so far back he thought they were going to come out of his head. Some laughs came from the people there, but the teacher ignored this. He took his seat once more and looked at Bobata’ book to see what page they were on, and to see how much he’d have to catch up on. Terushima hated reading with a passion, he could never stay focused on it and then he’d always get confused. Why did his teacher have to torture him so much with such a long book.  _ I wonder if Daishou likes to read. _

“Yuuji-kun!” His teacher called, snapping him out of his thoughts. Laughs came from around the classroom once more.

“Um, yes?” Terushima questioned.

“Can you read the next few paragraphs for us?” 

“Oh yeah sure,” Terushima said. 

It was enough to say Terushima hated how slow he read in his head, he made enough errors there, now saying it out loud in front of his class, he absolutely detested it. 

_ “If I profane with my unworthiest hand, _

_ This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: _

_ My lips, two blushing pilgrims ready stand, _

_ To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.” _

Terushima finally got the words out. He highly detested William Shakespeare, and why the fact English teachers have to adore him so much. Why not make us ready something like ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid,’ something more entertaining. He continued.

_ “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, _

_ Which mannerly devotion shows in this; _

_ For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, _

_ And palm to palm is holy palmer’s kiss.” _

Everytime he stuttered or made the slightest mistake he heard people sigh, annoyed that the slowest reader in the whole class had to read such a long part. He ignored them and continued anyway.

_ “Have not saint lips, and holy palmers too? _

_ Ay, pilgrim, _

_ Lips that they must use in prayer. _

_ Oh, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do. _

_ They pray; grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.” _

Why did Shakespeare have to use such complicated words? He would forever hate old English, or British, whatever it was. He proceeded.

_ “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake, _

_ Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take. _

_ Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged. _

_ Then have my lips the sin that they have took. _

_ Sin from my lips?  _

_ Oh, trespass sweetly urged! _

_ Give me my sin again.” _

“Thank you Yuuji-kun,” the teacher said once he finished the last line. 

Terushima put his hood back on, attempting to hide from everyone’ gaze. He hadn’t realized he started crying until he saw a droplet of water land on his book.

“Shit,” he mumbled. He quickly wiped away the tears, and raised his hand.

“Yes?”

“May I go to the washroom?” He asked, keeping his head down.

“Go ahead Yuuji-kun,” the teacher responded.

Terushima quickly closed the book and got up looking at the ground and walking to the washroom as quickly as he could. Once there, he locked himself up in a stall and sat down on the toilet seat. He put his head in his hands.  _ Why?  _ He thought to himself.  _ Why now? Why here?  _ He stepped out of the stall and rinsed his face in the sink. When he looked up in the mirror he had a heart attack seeing Takeharu behind him.

“OH MY-” Terushima shrieked. “Don’t do that!”

“Sorry, you ok?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry.”

Takeharu raised an eyebrow.

“Would you stop looking at me like that?!” Terushima said.

“Like what?”

“Like trying to find out every little thing about me!” Terushima exclaimed.

“Sorry, sensei was just wondering when you’d get back to class,” Takeharu explained.

Terushima nodded, “I’m coming.”

Takeharu and he walked out of the washroom and went back to class in silence.  _ Today really is not my day. _ Terushima thought. When he walked back into class all eyes were on him, once again. Why was everyone always looking at him today? The bell rang as he sat back down in his seat.

The rest of the day went by rather quickly, it wasn’t until volleyball practice did things start going downhill again. He didn’t know why his day wasn’t good today; it just was not a good one for Terushima. Whenever he served it would either fall out of the court, not go over the net or go straight into the other person’ hand. Whenever he tried to receive it wouldn’t go as he wanted it to, or it would end up out of the court again. Whenever he went to score a point he constantly kept getting blocked. He tried not to show that it was affecting him but it was hard to keep a smiling face when every time he went to score it would get blocked. He was proud that his team’ defense was working but he still felt like he couldn’t do anything. He was just back to where he was on Thursday. After practice he chose to stay longer and practice a bit more. He did a bit better with the silence, and none of the pressure. After too many failed attempts he sat on the floor of the gym, his head in his hands. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t do it, he was doing fine on Saturday with Daishou, Oikawa and Daichi. In fact he was doing better than usual on Saturday. His team prioritized having fun over winning, but Terushima sometimes couldn’t help but want to win. He wanted to know what it was like to put so much effort into something to win. He wanted to go to nationals, there was no next year for him. He wanted more than ever to at least go to nationals once with his team. He knew this was unlikely, out of all the teams in just his prefecture, his team most definitely wasn’t the best, but they were decent. If he and his team put in more of an effort, focused on getting better, they may just have the chance to actually go to nationals. 

“Teru?” he heard a familiar voice ask.

Terushima turned his head sharply to see who had called his name. The person he saw was Bobata.

“Oh, hey Bobata,” Terushima said. 

“Are you alright? How long have you been here?” Bobata questioned, walking up to him.

“Yeah I’m ok,” Terushima said. “Um, I don’t know when did practice end?” 

“Two hours ago..” 

Terushima’ eyes widened. Had he really been there for two hours?

“Shit, why are you here?”

“Realized I forgot my water bottle,” Bobata replied. Terushima nodded.

“Well I better be heading home,” Terushima blurted out after a few minutes of awkward silence.

“Why did you start crying today in class?” Bobata asked. 

Terushima should’ve figured someone would’ve asked eventually. “It was nothing, don't worry.” Terushima smiled after this. He got up off the floor and put the volleyball away and began to clean the floors. Bobata grabbed his water bottle that was still on the bench and then waited for Terushima at the door. Once Terushima finished what he was doing, he locked up the gym and made his way to the club room where he got changed.

For a split moment he looked down at his body, he processed every little detail. How his small scars still showed on his arms and thighs. His stretch marks on his inner thighs, that were unnoticeable if you didn’t point them out. Terushima’ body image had always been a problem with him, he couldn’t quite get his body to what he desired it to be. When he saw the other guys shirtless, he couldn’t help but stare, not necessarily because he was attracted to it, but don’t get him wrong he was, but because he was jealous. He wondered what it was like to be actually confident in one's own body. 

He quickly got changed and grabbed his bags. He met up with Bobata outside the club room and they began their walk home. Bobata dropped Terushima home and made his way to his house. Terushima got a text as he entered his house from Ayumu, the girl from the convenience store.

**_[Ayumu]: Hey! Sorry if this is a bad time! We haven’t talked for a while so I decided to check up on you (7:45pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Oh hey! I’m about to eat dinner right now but I’ll text you right after! (7:47pm)_ **

**_[Ayumu]: That’s fine! I’ll be here cutie (7:49pm)_ **

Terushima took off his shoes and put his phone in his pocket. He brought his bags up to his room and then went down to the living room where his parents were. 

“Hi Yuuji,” Terushima’ mom said, upon seeing him from the corner of his eyes. “Dinner’s on the counter, you can warm it up if you want to.”

“Ok, thanks mom,” Terushima said, giving a kiss on the top of her head. He made his way over to the kitchen and took a piece of what was for dinner and put it in the microwave to warm up. Once he was done he sat in the dining room alone and pulled out his phone, deciding to watch some videos that his teachers had uploaded earlier. Once he finished, he washed his plate and utensils and then made his way up to his room and then took a shower. He then took out his homework and texted back Ayumu.

**_[Terushima]: Hey! I’m back, sorry I took a shower too (8:30pm)_ **

**_[Ayumu]: That’s alright cutie! I was finished up some homework anyways (8:35pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: I’m working on some right now (8:37pm)_ **

**_[Ayumu]: Oh sorry! Just text me when you’re done I don’t wanna bother you cutie (8:39pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Alright! I should be done soon (8:40pm)_ **

Terushima put his phone on his bed so he couldn’t reach it and began on his homework. It wasn’t much, he just had to read up until the rest of the class was at, do some math problems and study for a test. He doubted he’d study for the test, but it’s the thought that counts. He spent over an hour doing it until he received a text, he had a feeling he should look at that one. As if it was more important than the others he had gotten. He reached for his phone and barely grabbed it and brought it to his face to see what the message said. When he saw what it said, he was shocked to say the least.

**_[Daishou]: They found out (10:05pm)_ **


	16. A New Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Get out of my house,” she demanded.
> 
> “W-What?” 
> 
> “GET OUT!” His dad screamed in his face, spit ending up on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: HOMOPHOBIA AND ABUSE

When Daishou got home that night, he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. His parents said hello and went back to what they were doing, not giving him another thought. He had eaten dinner with some of his friends earlier so he was fine without their food, they couldn’t cook well anyways. He went up to his room and took a shower, and started on homework. 

**_[Mika]: Daishouuuuuuuuu (9:30pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Yes? (9:30pm)_ **

**_[Mika]: I’m bored (9:31pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Well I’m busy so bother someone else (9:32pm)_ **

**_[Mika]: Busy thinking about Terushima?? (9:33pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: My whole life doesn’t revolve around him you know? (9:33pm)_ **

**_[Mika]: Yeah well, most of it does (9:34pm)_ **

Daishou had gotten another message from one of his friends and had gotten distracted when he accidentally clicked the wrong inbox he was about to text, mistaking it for Mika.

**_[Daishou]: Just because I like him doesn’t mean my life revolves around him (9:40pm)_ **

He had found it suspicious that ‘Mika’ hadn’t texted back but he didn’t think much of it, and he continued on with his homework.

“SUGURU DAISHOU COME DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT!!” His dad bellowed from the living room.

Daishou confusingly got up from his seat.  _ What happened? What did I do?  _ He didn’t think much about it, and made his way downstairs.  “Yes?” He questioned.

“WHAT’S THIS?!” Daishou’s dad asked, waving his mom’ phone in front of his face. Daishou grabbed the phone to see what he was talking about. His eyes widened. There written on the screen was the message he had thought he sent to Mika, but he made the worst mistake he could possibly think of.

“I-I-” He stuttered.

“YOU WHAT?!” His dad screamed once more. “WHO IS THIS GUY YOU LIKE HUH? BECAUSE NEVER IN MY LIFE WOULD I THINK  _ MY  _ SON WOULD BE THIS- THIS MONSTROSITY!”

Daishou said nothing. He stood there in shock. He hadn’t noticed his mom creep up beside him. She slapped him across the face when he was least expecting it.

“Get out of my house,” she demanded.

“W-What?” 

“GET OUT!” His dad screamed in his face, spitting on his face. 

Daishou ran up to his room and blocked his door to make it impossible for them to open it. Daishou did the first thing he could think of, that was text Terushima.

**_[Daishou]: They found out (10:05pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: What do you mean they found out? (10:05pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: I mean I accidentally sent my mom a text that wasn’t met for her and it said stuff about it and now they’re kicking me out and I don’t know what to do (10:06pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: I’m calling you. (10:07pm)_ **

Daishou saw the phone ring and he answered it right away.  “Y-Yuuj,” Daishou stuttered through heavy breaths and tears.

“Daishou it’s ok, breathe with me ok?” Terushima said.  That’s the first thing he said. Not  _ ‘What did you accidentally text them?’  _ not  _ ‘What are you going to do?’  _ but he offered to help. He loved that about him.

“ Ok.” Daishou said eventually.

“Breathe in for four,” Terushima whispered, while counting to four, which Daishou breathed in. “Hold for six.” He once again counted up to six. “Out for ten.” He counted to ten. They repeated this a few times until Daishou’ breathing started calming down.  “Start packing your stuff slowly ok,” Terushima said calmly. 

“But where am I going to go?” Daishou panicked.

“You’re going to text Mika and tell her what happened,” Terushima said. “And she’s going to come help you, tell her to go to your room window and to bring a ladder.”

“W-Why?” Daishou wondered.

“Because it’s going to be a pain to leave your house climbing down the wall with a bunch of stuff in your hands.” Terushima stated.

"No, why are you helping me?"

He sighed. "You're my friend. And friends help each other in times of need, right?"

“Right. Ok, I’ll text her,” Daishou said. Daishou put Terushima on speaker and texted Mika.

**_[Daishou]: Mika come over and come to my room window and bring a ladder and your parents' car. (10:20pm)_ **

**_[Mika]: Why- (10:21pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: I accidentally texted my mom something that was meant for you and it was about him and now they’re kicking me out and I can’t bring most of my stuff out from the front door or in one attempt (10:22pm)_ **

**_[Mika]: Coming and I’m bringing my parents too. Be there in 10 minutes (10:23pm)_ **

**_[Daishou]: Thank you (10:25pm)_ **

“She’s coming.”

“Good, now start packing,” Terushima said. 

Daishou set his phone on his bedside table, next to where Shima was. He started grabbing all the duffle bags he could find and shoving clothes into them, he had one duffle bag full of hoodies and sweatpants. Another with his volleyball clothes, workout clothes and socks and underwear. He filled another with the essentials in his bathroom, his shoes and his chargers for his phone and laptop. In a final duffle bag he included his more fashionable clothes that he wears to go and hang out with his friends on the weekend. In his school bag he put all the homework he had been working on and his laptop. He grabbed an old shoe box that he had and stabbed small holes in it, he then put Shima in the box and tapped the top shut so that it wouldn’t open unexpectedly. He grabbed a small grocery bag and put what’d he’d need to take care of Shima, he also put a smaller version of the cage Shima had, he would still fit but it would be temporary until he could get a bigger one. 

“I think I’m done,” Daishou announced. 

“Put the stuff by the window and open up the window.” Terushima then said. 

“You seem to have experience doing this,” Daishou joked. 

Terushima laughed a bit. “No don’t worry I haven’t, but if ever I had needed to, this would’ve been what I’d do.”

**_[Mika]: We’re here, dad’s taking the ladder out of the trunk and he’s on his way, mom and I are following (10:40pm)_ **

“They’re here, I'll call you when I get there, ok?” Daishou said.

“Ok, stay safe.” 

“I will.”

Terushima hung up just as Mika’ dad put the ladder out under his window. Daishou stuck his head out the window and waved done to them. They waved back.

“Throw stuff down and we’ll catch it!” Mika shouted. Daishou nodded and grabbed the first duffel bag, the one filled with hoodies and sweatpants. 

“This one’s light!” Daishou called. Mika placed herself, ready to catch the bag, so did her mom and dad. Daishou tossed it down and Mika caught it, and ran to their car putting it in the trunk. 

Daishou grabbed the second one, the one with his volleyball clothes. “This one’s also light!” He tossed it down and Mika’ mom caught it and ran to the car putting it in the trunk, Mika came back and waited for another bag. 

Daishou quickly taped the bag with Shima’ things. “This one has glass don’t let it fall!” The two of them nodded. He tossed it down as gently as he could and Mika caught it once more and ran to the car, her mom returned and waited.

Daishou took the third duffle bag, with his shoes and bathroom essentials. “This one has my shoes and bathroom stuff!” The two nodded and he tossed it down once more, this time Mika’ dad caught it and ran for the car, Mika came back. 

He grabbed the last duffle bag, with his outside clothes. “This one’s light too!” He tossed it down and Mika’ mom caught it and ran for the car, Mika’ dad came back.

“What’s left?!” She asked.

“I’ll carry the rest on my way down!” I stated, putting his phone and the box Shima was in, in his school bag. Daishou began his descent down the ladder, Mika’s dad holding it steady.

“Problem!” Mika’s mom called from the car. Daishou looked in her direction confused. He prayed it wasn’t his parents coming from the front door.

It was his parents.

Why did he always have to be right?

“Shit,” Mika mumbled. “Daishou give me your bag!”

“What?!” He questioned. “Shima and my phone and laptop are in here!” 

“It’ll be easier for you to run without it on your back!” 

“Ugh, let me get down the ladder first,” he said. He started going down a bit faster. 

“Don’t go too fast or you’ll slip,” Mika’s dad warned. Daishou obeyed and went down the ladder a bit slower. He finally reached the ground safely and Mika’ dad began to quickly close the ladder. He took off his bag and gave it to Mika, much to his dismay. They ran for the car.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” His mom screamed from the porch. 

“DAMN RIGHT I AM!” Daishou snapped back and got into the car. Mika sat next to him and closed the door. She gave Daishou his school bag, and he immediately took out his phone and the box Shima was in. “Sorry for that Shima.” 

“S _hima..”_ Mika mumbled. She looked at Daishou in deep thought. Her mouth dropped when she had connected the dots. “You named your snake after him?!” 

“Yeah, I guess I did,” Daishou said. 

“What do you mean  _ ‘you guess’  _ ?” she asked sarcastically.

“Well I bought the snake when I first met him, and I didn’t think much about the name, well until recently.” Daishou admitted. “I just thought Shima was cute, I didn’t think I liked him then, but I guess I had small feelings brewing since back then.”

“You’re so sappy when you’re tired,” Mika said.

“You asked for an explanation!” 

“I wasn’t expecting that!” Mika exclaimed. 

Mika’ parents got into the car and immediately started driving to their home, well now Daishou's new home. The Yamaka household had always been more of a family than Daishou’s own family. They always welcomed him to their home at any time, they were open and caring and were always ready to bring Daishou into their home if ever he needed it. They would give him food when his parents didn’t feed him, they would pick him up from school when his parents forgot to, they were more parents to Daishou than his actual parents. 

When they arrived they brought all of Daishou’ things into the guest room that they had available, mainly for when Daishou slept over, but now it’d be his room until he got his own place. Daishou quickly set up Shima’ new cage and he started to unpack his things and Mika helped.

“Shit,” Daishou mumbled, pulling out his phone. 

“What?” Mika asked.

“I said I’d call him when I got here,” Daishou replied, opening his contact on his phone.

“Oh?” She said, wiggling her eyebrows. “I’ll be in my room, tell me when you’re done talking with the love of your life.”

“I’m going to punch you,” he stated, the phone began to ring and he sat on the bed. Mika left closing the door behind her. 

“Hey,” Terushima said, as he answered the phone.

“Hey, I’m here.” 

“That’s great Daishou,” Terushima said. “Everything go well? Are you safe?”

“I’m ok,” Daishou said, basically a whisper, but loud enough for Terushima to hear over the phone. 

“You promise?” 

“I promise,” he whispered

“Goodnight Daishou,” Terushima whispered.

“You can call me Suguru if you want.”

“Goodnight Suguru,” Terushima whispered.

“Goodnight Yuuji,” he whispered.

Daishou hung up and flopped on the bed. He let out a sigh of relief. He texted Mika saying she could come back but he heard a notification come from outside the door. He opened it and saw Mika sitting in front of the door.

“Really?” Daishou questioned. 

“You guys are on a first name basis?” She asked.

“Yeah, and?” 

“Nothing, nothing, just saying, you don’t let anyone call you by your first name, not even me, and I think you should really tell him how you feel.” Mika said, closing the door as she entered the room. 

“Yeah, no, that’s not going to happen,” Daishou denied. “Just because we’re on a first name basis doesn’t mean anything, it just means we trust each other.” 

“Do you not trust me?” Mika joked.

“No that’s not what I meant, I just-” he sighed. “I don’t know, all I know is he obviously doesn’t like me.”

“And why would you say that?” she asked.

“Because last Friday he willingly gave some girl his number,” Daishou said, sitting on the bed. 

“Oh, maybe he just wanted to be friends with her?” She suggested.

“She was flirting with him,” he replied. “So no, I don’t think so.”

“You never know ok,” she said. “Just try eventually. Do it before preliminaries.”

“Preliminaries are next week, and we’re not even in the same prefecture!” He exclaimed. “The only time I’d see him before then is this weekend when we all go over to Oikawa's house.”

“So tell him then!” She suggested. “You can pull him aside or get some of the other guys to help you!” 

“I’m not going to tell him ok!” Daishou said after she finished. “And that’s final.”

“Whatever loser. Now help me finish putting your stuff away.”

“Fine.”

The two continued putting his stuff away until around 11pm. Daishou continued the homework that he had been doing earlier, though Mika complained he should get some sleep. Mika left to her room eventually, and Daishou continued his work. He finished at around twelve thirty in the morning and decided he better go to sleep. He put everything away and got ready for bed. He got into his bed and laid there for a bit, staring at the ceiling. He was thankful for many things recently. Terushima accepting him, though it’s not like he wouldn’t, and Mika and her parents for always being there for him. He laid there for a while not quite aware he had zoned out. He eventually rolled onto his side and stared at the wall. He eventually dozed off to sleep, his mind blank.

* * *

He woke up to Mika shaking him awake.

“Daishou!” She exclaimed. “We’re going to be late come on!” 

  
  


“Daishou rubbed his eyes and sat up. “What time is it?” 

“It’s almost 8 and class starts at 8:10,” she replied. She stopped shaking him once he had sat up.

“Shit,” he said. “Ok I’ll hurry let me get changed.” 

She nodded and left the room closing the door behind her. He knew he had forgotten to put his alarm on yet he chose to not put it on either way. He quickly got out of bed and got changed, then rushing to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face. He knew he looked horrible, but at this point he didn’t care, he just needed to get to school. He grabbed his bag from his room and ran to the front door where Mika was waiting for him.

“Come on let’s go!” She said, grabbing her bag off the floor and running out the door, Daishou following behind her.

“Don’t worry if you’re late!” Mika’ dad called out from the door, before shutting it. 

The pair ran to school, Daishou didn’t really care if he was late but he knew Mika wanted to maintain her perfect attendance record, so he rushed too. He was tired, he had woken up literally five minutes before and they only had five minutes until class started. They had made it into class just as the bell rang, both out of breath. The class stared at the two but they didn’t care, they just took off their bags and took their seat.

“Good morning everyone!” The teacher greeted, and that’s about all Daishou remembered before falling asleep once more.

“Suguru-kun!” The teacher hollered. 

Daishou shot up, looking around the room tiredly.

“Is my lesson so boring you feel the need to sleep in my class?” The teacher questioned.

“Yeah, kind of,” Daishou remarked, rubbing his eyes. The class laughed but the teacher just glared at him.

  
  


“You’re on thin ice Mr. Daishou.” The teacher said sternly. Daishou just nodded his head before receiving a hit on the back of the head by Mika.

“Ow!” He exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head and then turning to face Mika. 

“What you get,” she replied and then went back to the work she was doing. Daishou turned back around and realized there was a package in front of him.

“Suguru-kun,” the teacher said. “This whole package is due by tomorrow for you.”

“Tomorrow?!” Daishou shrieked. “This is like fifty pages!”

“Think twice about sleeping in my class!” She replied.

He rolled his eyes and opened the package to see what he had to do. Math, a whole lot of math. Maybe he should’ve been paying attention, but he figured he’d just ask Mika for help. 

“I’m not helping you,” Mika whispered behind him, as if she had been reading his mind. He turned around and stared at her.

“How do you expect me to finish this by tomorrow?!” He whisper-shouted at her. She shrugged her shoulders.

“Figure it out on your own,” she replied and went back to her work.

Snickers came from the kids that were close to them and Daishou just sighed and continued what he was doing. He worked until the bell rang, and everyone had started making noise and walking around the class to talk to their friends. Daishou put the package in his bag and turned around to talk to Mika. 

“You’re mean, you know that?” Daishou remarked.

“You’re dumb, you know that?” Mika snapped back. “You need to do your own work sometimes.”

“Yeah I know but that’s fifty pages of shit I’m never going to use in my future.”

“You never know,” she replied.

They talked until their next teacher came into class and started the lesson. Daishou didn’t pay much attention for the rest of the day. He tried working on the package either during classes or between classes, so that he’d have less to do when he got back. When the final bell rang he took his bags and made his way to the club room.

“See you later!” He said to Mika as he entered the club room. Mika waved goodbye and walked away. 

“ _‘See you later’_ huh?” Takachiho said with a smirk on his face when Daishou turned around.

“It’s not like that oh my god,” Daishou sighed. He rolled his eyes and put his bag in an available cubby. 

“Yeah ok,” Takachiho said, putting his shirt on. “I’ll be in the gym.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

Takachiho nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Daishou quickly changed into his clothes and put his uniform in his bag, he then walked out of the room to meet up with everyone down in the gym. He went in to find everyone stretching and warming up, getting ready for everything they were going to do that day. He began to stretch and warm up as well and then met up with the coach who would let him know what they were going to do that day. 

“I’m thinking serves and receives for today,” the coach said. “We can all be better in that.”

Daishou nodded. “Yeah, that would be good and then starting Thursday we can work on blocking and spikes.” The coach nodded and then explained to everyone what they were going to do. 

Daishou and Takachiho brought out the volleyballs and the coach separated them into two groups, one group would serve first and the other would receive. Daishou was a part of the group who would serve first, so he decided to work on his jump serves and regular serves. Once he had gotten better at his jump serves he had eventually done a service ace, which he wasn’t aiming to do but he did anyways. Eventually they switched sides and he practiced some receives. When the coach thought they had done enough he let them go, Daishou decided to stay for a bit longer to work on his serves, a few other people stayed, trying to improve and perfect what they could. The people who stayed for personal practice were: Daishou, Takachiho, Kazuma and Kōji. The four of them practiced, serves, receives, spikes and blocks. They tried their best to deal with the fact that they weren’t practicing with a setter but they were good enough. Once they finished the four of them cleaned up the gym and Daishou locked it up before heading to the club room with the others. 

“I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Daishou said to the others as they left. 

They said their goodbyes and Daishou quickly changed, grabbed his stuff and locked up the club room. He walked back to Mika’ house and took off his shoes. 

“Welcome back,” Mika’ mom said upon seeing him. “Have a good day?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “I’m going to go drop this stuff in my room, alright?”

“Alright, we’ll call you down when dinner is ready,” she said. Daishou nodded his head and went to his room, where he changed into a hoodie and sweatpants. He sat on his bed and started on his homework, without any help from Mika of course. He did as much as he could before being called down. He made his way downstairs and sat where he usually did whenever he ate dinner at their house. They started eating and Mika and Daishou talked about their day, Mika thought better than to call out the fact that Daishou had fallen asleep in class, and he was thankful. He ate rather quickly and then put his dishes in the washing machine, then made his way to his room to continue on his work. He didn’t realize how hard he had been working until Mika came into his room.

“Daishou,” she said. “Do you realize you’ve been working for three hours straight?” 

“Huh?” He questioned, his mouth hanging open slightly. “Really?”  He knew he had been working for awhile he just didn’t think it was that much. 

“Yeah, so you should probably take a break,” she said, before walking out of the room, closing the door behind her. Daishou cracked his neck and went on his phone, texting his friends and just scrolling through apps. After about 15 minutes he decided to finish his work, while listening to music as he had been doing before. He eventually finished it twenty minutes later, much to his demise. He yawned and stretched before going on his phone. He fed Shima and texted some of his friends, though not many did answer as it was pretty late and most of them are responsible and go for at least 8 hours of sleep each night. But one did answer, Terushima. They talked for a while until Daishou started almost falling asleep, he said goodnight and then got ready for bed. He turned off his lights and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.


	17. Night 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Why aren’t you coming in?” He asked Daishou.
> 
> “I don’t want to,” the latter answered plainly.
> 
> “Boring,” Terushima stated, holding the g.
> 
> “Why not?” Kuroo asked, moving over to the two.
> 
> “Because I don’t want to!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: EFFECTS OF ABUSE

When Terushima woke up that morning he felt refreshed, which he was confused about. He rolled onto his side and checked the time on his phone, it was 12:30pm. He was  _ very  _ late for school, and no one had decided to wake him up. He shot straight up and jumped out of his bed. Guess he didn’t need coffee to wake himself up that day. He quickly got changed into his school uniform, packed his school bag with what he’d need that day, fixed his hair and ran out the door. He texted his parents saying he was late for school and asked them why they hadn’t woken him up. By the time they texted back he had already arrived at school.

**_[Mom]: You don’t have school today sweetie, don’t you remember? (12:45pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: What? In the middle of the week? (12:47pm)_ **

**_[Dad]: That’s what I was saying but I think there’s an activity going on in your school so they cancelled classes for today, but you have volleyball practice at the usual time. (12:50pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: Oh, well thankfully I texted you guys before I just walked into school (12:51pm)_ **

**_[Terushima]: See you guys later (12:51pm)_ **

**_[Mom + Dad]: See you later! (12:53pm)_ **

Terushima quietly cursed to himself. He had completely forgotten he didn’t have school that day. He hurried back home and changed out of the clothes he was wearing into comfier clothes and got back into his bed. He didn’t go back to sleep because then he knew he wouldn’t sleep again that night, instead he took out his laptop and began to watch a show, though he instantly got up to get some food and a drink. When he came back he got himself into a comfortable position and proceeded to watch his show and eat. He stayed like that until he had around 20 minutes before he had to be at volleyball practice. He turned off his laptop and stretched, he doubted many people were going to show up for practice but he hoped they did. They must have some sense in the fact that they need to get better. He got himself ready once more and brought a change of clothes for later, so he wouldn’t smell as much when he got back home. He put the clothes in a bag and started making his way to school, slow but steady. 

He had no reason to rush, he had plenty of time before he had to get there so he didn’t go any faster then he needed to. He didn’t need to use a lot of energy just to get there. Once he arrived he opened the clubroom and put his clothes in there and then went to the gym, which he found already unlocked. When he got inside he saw a few people sitting in there, Bobata, Takeharu, Rintarō, Runa and coach Takaaki. He sat down next to Bobata and Takeharu and began stretching with them. Soon enough only one more person came. After waiting around ten more minutes no one else showed up.

“Well looks like no one else is coming,” coach Takaaki pointed out. Everyone nodded and looked at the coach. “Well, there’s not much to do about that, just practice what you guys feel needs to be worked on.”

“What do you guys think we should do?” Terushima asked them.

“Receives,” Bobata answered.

“Blocks,” Rintarō said.

“So we can work on quicks, blocks and receives,” Terushima said. Everyone nodded their heads. “You guys finished warming up?”

Practice went pretty smoothly. No one else showed up in the middle of it but Terushima didn’t really care, if they didn’t want to get better they just wouldn’t. Blocking was still an issue but their receives were pretty good so that if someone failed to block another person could always pick the ball back up again. He made his way home with Bobata and Takeharu. Upon entering his house his sister greeted him at the door. 

“Hi Yuuji!” Yuuki shouted, hugging Terushima.

“Hi Yuuki,” Terushima replied, more softly.

“Want to watch my show with me?” she asked, looking up at him.

“I would love to, but I have a lot of homework to do.”

“Aw, ok.” She said with a frown. 

“I’ll watch it with you when I finish my homework. How about that?” He asked.

“Ok!” She said, smiling once more and then running to the living room. 

Terushima took off his shoes and went up to his room. He went back down to the kitchen to warm up his dinner and then he brought it upstairs to his room. He ate while starting on his homework, that was assigned the day before. He didn’t have much to do, just about a page of questions for the book they were reading. He answered them rather quickly and put it away. He went back down into the living room where he found his siblings and his mom sitting on the couch. He joined them, sitting on the corner next to Yuuki. Yuuki wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head on his arm. Terushima didn’t mind, but sooner or later his arm started to feel numb. They watched it until around 9pm and his mom told Yuuki and Suku to go to bed. Yuuki had fallen asleep on him so he picked her up and brought her to her room, placing her on her bed and tucking her into the covers. He closed her door as he left her room and then said goodnight to his brother, who had just left Yuuki and his shared bathroom. Terushima then made his way to his room and closed his door, he didn’t plan on going to sleep any time soon so he continued a show on his laptop. In between he would text his friends, if any of them were awake. Some were but most chose to go to sleep early. This Friday night, he and his main group of friends were going over to Oikawa’s house. He had a huge house so he had basically all the room in the world, they were planning on sleeping over throughout the whole weekend right before preliminaries, they could all practice together if they wanted to, they would just have a great time all together. Terushima later got himself ready for bed, he was tired to say the least. He put his alarm on and turned off the lights, he said goodnight to his friends and quickly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Friday came by quickly. When he finished practice, he quickly changed and gathered his things and walked home with his friends. Upon entering his house he took off his shoes, said hi to his parents and siblings and then went up to his room.

He grabbed one of his spare duffle bags and started putting clothes into it. He put 2 jogging pants and 2 oversized shirts, he also put an exercise shirt and shorts in case they decided to do volleyball or just work out. He added more casual/modern shirts and pants if they decided to head out somewhere, though he doubted they would go anywhere other than maybe the store to buy more food. He checked his phone and noticed that Oikawa had texted him letting him know to bring a bathing suit because he had an indoor pool they could use.  _ Of course he has an indoor pool.  _ He shoved a swimsuit in the bag and then took a smaller separate bag to put his toothbrush and toothpaste inside of it, and then he put that in the bag. He grabbed his phone, earphones and his charger and put them in his pockets. He decided to wear jeans and a gray with yellow and white stripes T-shirt. He grabbed his bag and went downstairs where his dad waited for him. 

“Ready to go?” His dad asked. Terushima nodded and quickly put on his shoes. 

Terushima took the bag and put it in the trunk of the car, he said goodbye to his siblings and mom and went back to the car and sat in the passenger seat. He gave his dad the address and he began to drive. Terushima put his headphones on and listened to his music. When he got there, the first thing Terushima thought was,  _ ‘Wow this house is  _ huge _ ’ _ . He took his bag out of the trunk and said bye to his dad and then went up to the front door. He rang the doorbell and was greeted by Oikawa.

“Hey Teru-kun!” Oikawa said once he opened the door.

“Hi!” He greeted. Oikawa stepped to the side to let room for Terushima to enter, which he did so. “Am I the first one here?” 

“No,” Oikawa responded. “Ushijima is here, he’s in the backyard.”

Terushima smiled. A man in a fancy suit came up to Terushima.

“Hi Masumi,” Oikawa greeted the man. “You can give him your bag Teru, he’ll bring it up to my room.”

Terushima bowed his head to Masumi and gave him his bag. Masumi took it, bowed his head and walked away up the stairs. Terushima admired the house, his eyes looking at everything, Oikawa began to walk down the hall and he followed after him. They stepped outside and Terushima admired it. Big was an understatement, it seemed to go on forever. There was a patch of land with a gazebo and tile flooring leading to it. On the right side there was a small volleyball court that could also double as a tennis or a badminton court. He saw Ushijima to his left where there was a huge patio space. There was a couch surrounding a medium sized fireplace, there was a barbeque near an outside dining area.

“Ok so you’re  _ rich  _ rich,” Terushima stated, his eyes shining.

“Yeah I guess you could say that,” Oikawa laughed. 

The two walked over to Ushijima who was seated on the couch surrounding the fireplace. They sat down and began talking. Oikawa would stand up around every 10 minutes to open the front door when he heard the doorbell ring. The next person to show up was Kita, followed by Sakusa. Then came Daichi soon followed by Daishou.

“Hi Suguru!” Terushima greeted upon seeing him, waving enthusiastically. Daishou waved back.

“Hi Yuuji,” he replied. The other boys looked at them dumbfoundedly, their mouths hanging open slightly. 

Oikawa smirked. “Oh, first name basis are we now?” 

Daishou rolled his eyes and sat down next to Kita and Terushima. 

“Yeah and what about it?” he asked rhetorically.

“Oh nothing, nothing at all.”

Soon enough everyone had shown up. They all just hung out until more people in fancy suits came out putting food on the table. Oikawa stood up followed by everyone else, and they all sat down around the table. Terushima chose to sit at the corner next to Daishou who was sitting next to him and Kuroo. They prayed and then began to eat. Once they had all finished eating Oikawa suggested they all went up to his room to hang out for a while, which everyone agreed to. They went up to Oikawa’s room and Terushima was amazed. There was a king sized bed in the middle of the room, a tv across from it, a couch by a giant window and another couch in front of the bed. There were pictures hung up behind Oikawa’ bed, most of them were him and his friends from Aoba Johsai, and there were some of what looked to be Oikawa with his family on Christmas and other holidays. Next to his bed he had a tall shelf where there were a lot of things. Near the top there was a stand holding a volleyball, on the shelf closest to the bed was a water bottle, a tissue box and a picture frame of what looked to be Oikawa and Iwaizumi sitting in a bathtub when they were younger. 

Everyone seemed to be admiring Oikawa’ room, Oikawa just sat on his bed waiting for everyone to finish looking at everything. Terushima soon joined him in sitting on it, as did Daichi and Daishou. Eventually everyone stopped gazing and all sat down somewhere, either on one of the couches or on the bed or on the floor. They just hung out and talked for a while, at one point Oikawa turned on his TV and they just watched whatever was on. 

“Do you guys want to go swimming?” Oikawa suggested after a while. Everyone nodded their heads. “Great! Go grab your stuff some people can change in my bathroom or in here you can also change downstairs.”

“I call the bathroom!” Daishou and Terushima called out at the same time. The two boys looked at each other and then quickly looked elsewhere. The other guys laughed.

“Ok, don’t take too long you two!” Kuroo teased, to which Daishou hit him on the top of the head. 

“Where’s the bathroom Oikawa?” Terushima asked, ignoring Kuroo’s comment.

“It’s right here,” Oikawa answered, standing up and walking to what Terushima had thought to be a closet. He opened the door and there was a giant bathroom. There was a huge bathtub to the left side next to a huge sink with a counter. In the back right corner there was a glass shower and a toilet nearby. Terushima’s jaw dropped, as did most of the other boy's mouths. Terushima walked over to his bag and took out his swimsuit and then walked back into the bathroom. He waited for Daishou to come, which he soon did a couple minutes later.

“Have fun boys,” Kita teased as he closed the door. Terushima laughed but Daishou just rolled his eyes. 

The two waited a few minutes standing there awkwardly, Terushima rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “Not much privacy, huh?” Terushima said at last.

“Yeah,” Daishou said and laughed awkwardly. “Um, I'll go to the right corner and you just stay there but turn around, ok?”

Terushima nodded his head. “Yeah sure.”

Terushima stayed where he was and Daishou walked to the corner and began to take off his shirt. Terushima stared for a moment and looked at the bruises on the latter's back. They had gotten better since the last time he had seen them. Terushima quickly turned around and started to change into his swimsuit. Once he was done he picked up his clothes and stood there.

“I’m done,” Terushima said to Daishou. 

“You can turn around now.”

Terushima turned around and saw Daishou putting on what looked to be a swimming shirt. Daishou shook his head around in the mirror across from him, attempting to fix his already perfect hair. Terushima did the same thing to his mess of hair. 

“Ready?” He asked. Daishou nodded. Terushima opened the door and walked out, Daishou following behind him. Terushima saw Bokuto, Kita, Kuroo and Daichi sitting on Oikawa’s bed. “You guys ready to go?”

“Yeah, we were waiting for you two,” Kuroo said with a smirk. Daishou rolled his eyes and went to put the clothes in his hands into his bags, Terushima did the same. He grabbed his phone and headed to what he assumed to be Oikawa’ room door though he couldn’t be more mistaken. He opened up to a walk-in closet full of clothes and shoes and other things. Terushima closed the door and turned around quickly. 

“Wrong door?” Daichi asked. Terushima nodded, not saying a word. The boys laughed and walked towards the door next to Terushima which was the correct door and walked out, Terushima following behind them. They found their way down to the indoor pool and waited for Oikawa, Ushijima and Sakusa to come from wherever they were coming from. They did eventually come out, and Sakusa was busy texting someone on his phone to care. 

“You guys could’ve gone in the pool already you know?” Oikawa questioned. They just shrugged their shoulders.

“We waited for you guys!” Bokuto exclaimed. Oikawa laughed and put down the towels he had been carrying. 

“Well, you guys can go in now.” Oikawa announced.

Bokuto and Kuroo sprang up from where they had been sitting a cannon balled into the pool. Terushima put his phone down, got up and made his way to the pool along with Ushijima and Daichi. Terushima jumped in and swam to the bottom and then came back up. He shook his head shaking the water off of his head and swam to the side of the pool. On the side he saw Bokuto, Kuroo and Oikawa doing handstands underwater, Daichi and Kita laughing at them, Ushijima and Sakusa in a conversation. On the other side of the pool sat Daishou, only his feet in the water, looking at everyone. Terushima went under the water and swam over to him. He popped his head out once he was next to him against the wall. 

“Why aren’t you coming in?” He asked Daishou. Terushima leaned his head against the side of the pool looking up at Daishou. Daishou looked down to him.

“I don’t want to,” the latter answered plainly.

“Boring,” Terushima stated, holding the g.

“Why not?” Kuroo asked, swimming over to the two.

“Because I don’t want to.”

“What? Do you not know how to swim?” Kuroo joked, though Daishou remained silent. “Oh my god, you don’t know how to swim.”

Daishou shook his head. Terushima began laughing. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“It’s stupid isn’t it? I’m the only one here who can’t swim.” Daishou answered. 

“Daishou, the water isn’t deep. I'm literally standing right now,” Kuroo said, showing him. “Just come in and stand here.”

Daishou shook his head. 

“Come on Daishou all you have to do is stand!” Bokuto exclaimed, swimming over from where he was. Soon enough everyone was there, all encouraging him to get in, well all except Terushima. 

“Guys just leave him alone,” Terushima said, making everyone fall silent. “If he doesn’t want to come in he doesn’t have to.”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and went back to what they were doing. Terushima swam around, doing handstands with Bokuto, Kuroo and Oikawa and occasionally talking with Daichi, Kita, Sakusa and Ushijima. After a while everyone decided on getting out of the pool. Most of the guys went up ahead, well all but Daishou. Terushima was halfway up the stairs when he realized he had forgotten his phone.

“Guys, I’ll be there in a minute. I forgot my phone,” Terushima said, heading back down the stairs again.

“Ok!” They answered, continuing up the stairs. Terushima made his way back to the pool area and saw Daishou sitting by the pool still. Terushima made a last minute decision and grabbed his phone and went to go sit next to the latter. 

“You ok?” Terushima asked, once he sat down next to him. Daishou looked up at him and just nodded and looked back to staring at the water. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing,” Daishou mumbled. 

“Come on, don’t lie to me.”

Terushima put his phone down next to him and looked at Daishou. “Look at me.”

Daishou obeyed and looked at Terushima, they’re faces inches away from each other. 

“Look me in the eye and tell me it’s nothing.”

“It’s nothing,” Daishou said, but instead looked at Terushima’s forehead. 

“Ok, so it is something.” Terushima declared. “Now tell me what it is.”

“Thank you.” Daishou said after a few minutes of silence. 

“And what are you thanking me for?” 

“For before, everyone was pressuring me into going in the pool, but you respected that I didn’t want to go in and told them to stop. So, thank you.”

“It’s nothing you should be thanking me about, it’s what friends do right?” Terushima asked.

“Yeah, it’s what friends do…” Daishou replied, staring at his reflection in the water again. 

“If you want,” Terushima said. “I could help you learn how to swim.”

“Huh?”

“Only if you want to though. It’d be just me and you right now.” Terushima suggested. He wasn’t expecting Daishou to agree, he just put the offer out there and if he wanted to then he’d be glad to help. He remembered a few years ago when he had been trying to become a lifeguard, though in the end he quit, he still knew the basics in saving people from drowning. 

“Sure,” Daishou agreed. 

“Really?” Terushima questioned.

“Yeah, why not right?”

Terushima smiled. “Alright come here.”

Terushima stood up and walked to the most shallow part of the pool, Daishou followed him. Terushima walked down the steps and stood there waiting for Daishou to follow. The latter was hesitant. “Just walk down, it won’t hurt you.” 

Daishou stepped in and walked down to where Terushima was. “Look at that now you’re standing in the pool!” Terushima smiled brightly, Daishou smiled slightly. “Let’s just start by walking around.” Daishou nodded and started walking around in a circle. “Not like that dummy, come on.” Terushima took hold of Daishou’ hands and started walking backwards, deeper into the pool. The water was soon up to Daishou’ upper chest. “You’re doing great, see!” 

“Thanks,” Daishou replied, his cheeks slightly red. Terushima continued walking backwards until he decided this was a good spot to start learning how to actually swim. 

“We’re going to start by learning how to float, ready?” Terushima asked. Daishou just nodded his head. “This was always my favorite part when learning how to swim as a kid, we would do it at the beginning and the end. Watch me do it.” Terushima took his feet off the bottom of the pool and leaned backwards so that he was in a star formation on his back. He breathed calmly and made himself stay afloat. After around 30 seconds he came back to his feet. “Ready?” Daishou nodded his head. “I’ll support you so don’t worry.”

Daishou nodded his head once more and attempted to copy what Terushima had done, with Terushima supporting him at his waist. He eventually did it though the moment Terushima would let go he started to sink and then he would panic. They redid this until Daishou finally got the hang of it. 

“There you go!” Terushima exclaimed when Daishou was doing it on his own. “Now put your feet down and stand up.” Daishou did exactly that and smiled.

“Hey I’m not  _ that _ bad at this,” Daishou said and Terushima nodded. They easily lost track of time and Oikawa had come down to see if they were still in the pool.

“Guys are you- woah what?” Oikawa asked.

The two boys looked at each other then at Oikawa.

“I’m teaching him how to swim!” Terushima exclaimed.

“I see that.” Oikawa said. “Enjoying yourselves?” 

Terushima nodded, Daishou just avoided eye contact with Oikawa.

“Well, you guys have been here for like an hour, there’s no towels so I’ll bring you guys some and come back to my room when you guys are finished.” 

Terushima nodded and Oikawa left the room. 

“I’m kind of tired,” Daishou said, rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand. “Call it a night?”

“Uh, yeah sure,” Terushima agreed. He had to admit, he was sort of disappointed. He was having a lot of fun just with Daishou, though he chose not to protest. He swam to the side of the pool and lifted himself out and waited for Daishou to get himself out. Daishou swam his way over to where Terushima was and attempted to do the same thing, though he failed as his arms wobbled and he fell back into the pool. “You okay?”

Daishou nodded as he took his head out of the water. He attempted to do it again, but once more failed. Terushima accidentally let out a laugh as he watched Daishou fail once more.

“It’s not funny!” Daishou argued.

“Oh come on! Just a little bit funny!” Terushima insisted. Terushima stuck his hand out for Daishou to grab onto, which the latter did but instead of pulling himself up he pulled Terushima in. Terushima hurried back to the surface, shaking his head to get the water out of his nose and ears. “Hey!”

Daishou laughed. “Oh come on! It was just a little bit funny!” 

“Oh you little-” Terushima said, he cut himself off by splashing Daishou in the face with water. Daishou gasped and did the same thing back at Terushima, though Terushima assumed he would do this and went under the water. He opened his eyes and swam for Daishou’ legs, attempting to pull him under. Terushima grabbed hold of one of Daishou’ legs, though Daishou kicked his hand away. Terushima grabbed his other leg and before Daishou could react pulled him under. Terushima stuck his head out of the water for a second, took in a deep breath and went back under, keeping his eyes open. Under the water he saw Daishou attempting to swim back to the surface, Terushima decided to help him as it was the least he could do. He grabbed hold of Daishou’ hand and pulled him up to the surface with him. When the two emerged from the water they took in deep breaths.

“What was that for?!” Daishou asked once he had caught his breath.

“Sorry,” he apologized. 

“Whatever, just don’t do that again. Ok?” Daishou questioned. Terushima nodded his head and swam towards the stairs, Daishou following him. Terushima climbed up the steps and saw towels by the entrance to the pool. He grabbed them and gave one to Daishou once he emerged from the pool. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Terushima said. Terushima shook his head to get rid of excess water from his hair and then started banging the side of his head to get the water out of his ear.

“What are you doing?” Daishou wondered, laughing slightly.

“Getting the water out of my ears, duh.” Terushima answered sassily, as if that wasn’t the most obvious thing in the world.

Terushima started drying himself off, starting with his face and going down to his feet, Daishou doing the same thing. For a moment, Terushima could’ve sworn he saw Daishou staring at his abs, to this he smirked. He saw Daishou roll his eyes and continue to dry himself off. Terushima walked over to where he had been sitting with Daishou an hour ago and grabbed his phone which he had gone there for earlier. He walked back towards the latter and he put the towel he had been using over his shoulder.

“Ready to go?” Terushima asked. Daishou nodded and grabbed his phone from where it had been before. The two of them left the room and attempted to find Oikawa’s bedroom; it didn’t take that long thanks to Daishou’ sense of direction. When they entered the room everyone looked at the door and saw the two of them enter.

“What were you guys doing down there for an hour?” Kuroo asked with a smirk on his face. 

“We were-,”

“Nothing.” Daishou interjected. Terushima looked at Daishou who stood in front of him. 

“Yeah  _ ‘nothin-’ _ ,” Oikawa said but was interrupted by Daishou kicking him in the leg. “OW!”

Daishou glared at Oikawa and walked over to his bag, grabbed his clothes and walked into the bathroom. Terushima just stared at everyone dumbfoundedly. Out of awkwardness, Terushima found himself putting his fingers up in a peace sign and showing an awkward smile. The other guys laughed, as did Terushima and he took a seat next to Bokuto on the couch in front of the bed. They talked for a while until Daishou came out and then Terushima grabbed his things and went to the bathroom. Terushima changed into an oversized shirt and jogging pants and then put his swimsuit in a plastic bag he had brought so that his other clothes wouldn’t get wet. He then left the bathroom and sat back down where he had been sitting before. Terushima shivered at how cool the room was but he tried not to show he was cold, he didn’t want to have to bother someone. He had completely forgotten to pack himself a hoodie so instead he just curled himself into a ball on the couch. 

“Teru-kun, are you cold?” Oikawa asked, looking at him from the bed. 

Terushima shook his head. “No I’m fine.”

“You sure? You look like a circle trying to contain as much heat as possible.” Daichi pointed out.

Terushima looked down at himself and then sat normally. “I’m fine seriously.”

“Whatever you say,” Oikawa said. 

Terushima felt two eyes staring deeply into the back of his neck so like the logical person he was he decided to turn around. When he turned around all he saw was black. He heard everyone around him laughing so he decided to take whatever was on his face to prevent him from seeing off. When he did he saw a plain black hoodie with white strings to tighten the hood. He looked up and saw Daishou avoiding Terushima’ gaze, so it was safe to assume that Daishou had lent it to him. Terushima chose not to say anything and instead put on the hoodie. He pulled the sleeves down so that you couldn't see his fingers and then pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around his knees. Everyone continued to talk as they had before, Daishou and Terushima’ gaze would occasionally meet, but Terushima would look away, his cheeks turning red. 

“Hey Sakusa?” Terushima asked at one point.

“Yeah?”

“Say around some time last week did you happen to be eating at Mc Donald’s with some blonde guy?” Terushima asked with a smirk, remembering clearly what had happened on that night.

Sakusa’ eyes widened. “How would you know that?”

“I have my ways,” Terushima replied. “Now answer, who is that guy?”

“He’s just a friend,” Sakusa lied, going back to his phone.

“Oh hell no the Sakusa  _ we  _ know doesn’t go out to Mc Donald’s of all places with just a friend,” Kuroo noted.

Sakusa rolled his eyes. “Why do you guys want to know everything about my personal life?” 

“Because you never tell us anything and we’re bored,” Kita informed, grabbing a pillow off Oikawa’s bed and hugging it, leaning his head against it. “Now tell us.”

Sakusa sighed. “Fine, his name is Miya Atsumu, he’s a setter at your school Kita. We’ve been going out for like 2 months.”

“Going to have to have a talk with him.” Kita said, crossing his arms.

“Why?”

“How dare he not tell me he’s dating my best friend!”

Sakusa laughed. “Yeah, that’s my bad, I didn’t really want everyone to know.”

“Our baby has finally spread his wings,” Kuroo said, wiping a fake tear from his eye. Bokuto pretended to be balling his eyes out and “wept” into Kuroo’ arms.

“You guys are so dramatic,” Sakusa said, rolling his eyes. 

“You guys want to watch a movie?” Oikawa suggested after a few hours of just talking. No one decided to protest at this but most people stood up to stretch their legs from sitting for 2 hours straight. Terushima decided to switch seats with Kita next to Daishou on Oikawa’s bed. It was more of Kita and Oikawa’ decision as they dragged him by the hood of his hoodie and pulled him onto the bed.

“Guys that hurt!” He informed, rubbing his neck. The two boys just laughed and faced the TV. Oikawa sat a little more in front of Daishou and Terushima so that his back was facing the two but if he wanted to he could see what they were doing. Oikawa grabbed his TV remote and turned on netflix. 

“Teru, could you turn off the lights?” Bokuto asked him. Terushima nodded his head and got off the bed and walked over to the light switches and turned them all down. Oikawa grabbed his L.E.D. light remote and turned them on and changed the colour to a nice purple colour. 

“That colour good for everyone?” Oikawa asked. Everyone agreed and Terushima went back to the bed and sat next to Daishou.

“Thank you,” Terushima whispered in Daishou’ ear. Daishou didn’t respond, he just nodded and faced away from Terushima. Terushima frowned slightly and faced towards the TV where Oikawa was scrolling for something to watch. 

“Ohhh!” Kita exclaimed. “Let’s watch that!” He pointed towards the movie ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1’. 

“I’ve seen that movie like 20 times, but it’s really good,” Terushima said.

“And why have you seen that 20 times?” Daishou asked, looking at him like he was crazy. 

“My sister had a Harry Potter phase and forced me to watch them all with her,” Terushima answered, shrugging his shoulders.

“That sounds like Yuuki,” Daishou responded, looking back towards the TV. The rest of the boys looked at them like they were insane.

“Daishou, you’ve met Teru-chan's family?” Kuroo asked, you could hardly see the smirk on his face due to the lighting but you knew it was there.

“Yeah, and what about it?” Daishou asked defensively.

Kuroo shook his head. “Nothing! Geez I was just asking! No need to get all defensive!”

Daishou crossed his arms over his chest. “I wasn't, I was just asking.” After that everyone stayed silent as Oikawa played the movie. 

Terushima made himself more comfortable on the bed. Everyone watched the movie with great interest and when someone got confused on why something was happening a certain way, Terushima answered by filling them in on the other six movies. Around half way through the movie Terushima found his eyes started to get heavy and his head started to lean towards his left, landing on something hard. He didn’t think much of it and fell asleep.


	18. Day 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was around half way through the movie when Daishou felt something heavy land on his right shoulder. When he checked to see what it was he realized it was Terushima’s head. His cheeks immediately started to redden and he quickly focused his attention on the movie, though he couldn’t really make his cheeks back to their natural color.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: MENTIONS OF ABUSE

It was around half way through the movie when Daishou felt something heavy land on his right shoulder. When he checked to see what it was he realized it was Terushima’s head. His cheeks immediately started to redden and he quickly focused his attention on the movie, though he couldn’t really make his cheeks back to their natural color. 

“Hey Teru, why did-,” Oikawa started asking as he turned around and noticed that Terushima was asleep on Daishou’ shoulder. “Oh?” Oikawa smirked and kneed Kuroo in the back.

“Ow! What?!” Kuroo exclaimed, turning quickly to face Oikawa but all Oikawa did was point to the two boys and Kuroo smirked. Kuroo started doing kissing faces at the two of them. Daishou rolled his eyes and turned his attention towards the movie. Once the movie had ended Oikawa and Kuroo turned back to look at Terushima and Daishou, though all Daishou did was glare at the two. 

“Why did Dobby have to die?!” Bokuto shrieked, crying like a baby. 

“Should we watch part 2?” Kita suggested, facing Oikawa. 

“By the time we finish part 2 it’s going to be like six in the morning, you guys ok with that?” Daishou asked.

“Yeah, why not?” Sakusa said. 

“Part 2 it is,” Oikawa said, grabbing his remote and looking for the final part of the series. 

“Oikawa, it's right there,” Daishou said, pointing at the movie with his free hand.

“What? Where?” Oikawa asked, facing Daishou.

“In the top right cor-” Daishou said, but was interrupted by Terushima snuggling himself more in Daishou’s right side, now his arms were around Daishou’ torso. “Corner.”

“Aw, cute little lovebirds,” Oikawa said, making kissing faces at the two. 

“Shut up, you can’t even find where a movie is on your TV,” Daishou shot back.

Oikawa gasped dramatically. “You’re so mean to me!” Oikawa then clicked on the movie and made it start playing. Daishou awkwardly put his right arm around Terushima without waking him up and without attracting the attention of the others. Though that was quickly ruined when Kita noticed him.

“You guys look like a freaking couple and I’m so tired of you guys pining over each other.” He whispered, loud enough for literally everyone to hear. 

“I don’t pin over him!” Daishou whisper-screamed. 

“Yeah, and I’m not the smartest kid in my class,” Kita shot back.

“Name one time I pinned over him,” Daishou said, staring Kita right in the eyes.

“Really?” Kita asked rhetorically, Daishou just nodded his head. “How about a few hours ago? When you gave him your hoodie?”

“He was cold, you guys would’ve done the same,” Daishou answered.

“He said he was fine, I wouldn’t have gave him mine,” Oikawa implied.

“Guys shush I’m trying to watch the movie!” Bokuto whisper-shouted at them.

“Sorry Bo,” the three of them apologized. They quickly stayed quiet and watched the movie. At one point or another Daishou couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore. His head leaned towards the right landing softly on Terushima’s head. The sound of the movie playing quickly faded out as he fell asleep, happier then he had been in a while.

* * *

When Daishou awoke next, he was still in the same position. Next to him still sat Terushima, fast asleep. He looked around and found everyone else asleep around him, he then took his phone out of his pocket to see that it was late in the afternoon. Daishou didn’t move, instead he attempted to go back to sleep even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to. With all the light shining through the big window it was usually impossible for him to fall back asleep. He needed complete darkness or very little light, not to mention someone was mowing the lawn outside. Instead Daishou went on his phone, careful not to wake Terushima up. After around an hour he felt Terushima squirm in his sleep, Daishou looked down at the blonde, who had now moved his head to his lap. Daishou had no idea how Terushima was comfortable in this position, Daishou knew he himself would be in way too much pain if he was sleeping like that. Daishou ran his fingers through the blonde’ soft hair. He smiled down at the latter for a split second before turning his attention back to his phone, though his fingers were still in his hair. Around 30 minutes later, Terushima started to wake up, though Daishou didn’t notice until he started to talk.

“Dai- Suguru?” Terushima asked, whispering. 

Daishou looked down. “Yeah?” 

“What time is it?” 

Daishou checked the time once more. “Around one in the afternoon.”

The blonde said nothing but nodded. He stayed laying in the position he was in though he adjusted himself more so that half his body was hanging off the side of the bed. Daishou looked around the room to see where everyone else had decided to sleep. Oikawa, of course, slept on his bed as did Daichi, how Oikawa’ bed somehow was big enough for the four of them? Daishou didn’t know, nor did he really care. On the couch in front of the bed laid Bokuto and Kuroo, their feet in each other's faces, on the other couch in front of the big window, lay Ushijima and Sakusa. Kita laid on the floor in front of them, sleeping peacefully on the carpet. Daishou had no idea how Kita was comfortable sleeping like that but he just left him be.

“Are you going to keep playing with my hair or are you going to let me stand up?” Terushima asked him.

Daishou immediately removed his hands, his cheeks starting to go red. “Sorry.”

Terushima laughed softly. “It’s fine.” He stood up and walked over to the bathroom and went inside. Daishou covered his face in his hands. He hadn’t even realized he had been doing it and that made him even more embarrassed. It was as if it was an automatic reaction. He hated himself for that. 

He grabbed his water bottle that was next to him and drank the whole thing in one go. He got up, his knees wobbling underneath him, but he managed. He took a long awaited stretch and yawned. When stretched his arms upwards, his shirt lifted showing his stomach. At that moment, Terushima stepped out of the bathroom. Daishou though, just walked around him into the washroom. 

When he left he found a few more people awake. Those people being Sakusa, Daichi and Ushijima. Terushima and them were talking about something and then upon seeing Daishou, Sakusa stood up and walked into the bathroom. Daishou sat on Oikawa’ bed next to Terushima and laid down so that the upper half of his body was on the bed and his legs were hanging on the side. Though he did regret laying down like that, he chose to not make any sudden movements. Daishou made a small sound, showing his discomfort but then he realized he shouldn’t have. Terushima looked at him, his eyes saying  _ ‘You ok?’  _ but without actually saying anything, Daishou only slightly nodded his head and then Terushima went back to his conversation with Daichi and Ushijima. The conversation faded into background noise as he fell asleep once more.

When he awoke, he found that he had moved. He assumed it was four in the afternoon due to the dimness of the sun since he had last been awake. He was now lying, under the covers, in Oikawa’ bed. He sat up and rubbed his eyes to find no one else was in the room, though looking to his right he saw a note on the door. He got out of bed and walked over to the door and read the piece of paper.

_ If you’re reading this then you’re finally awake, _

_ Anyways, we’re outside practicing some volleyball, so get changed and meet us outside, _

_ \- Oikawa♡ _

Daishou crumpled up the note and tossed it onto the ground near his bag. He took a change of clothes out of his bags, which consisted of a T-shirt and jogging pants. He quickly went into the bathroom and changed into them, and then he went downstairs and outside. He walked over to where everyone else was playing volleyball and they seemed to have divided themselves into two teams. They had an even number of players playing on both sides so Daishou chose to just stand at the side of the net and watch them. The teams consisted of; Terushima, Oikawa, Ushijima and Kuroo in one team and Bokuto, Daichi, Kita and Sakusa on the other.

“Morning sleepyhead,” Kuroo greeted upon seeing him. “Well more afternoon.”

Daishou waved. “Yeah, who’s winning?”

“We are of course!” Terushima exclaimed, walking over to Daishou.

“Only because you guys have the only setter!” Bokuto complained.

Oikawa smiled at them. “Aw, you think I’m the only reason we’re winning?”

“That's not what I meant and you know it.”

They laughed. “Yeah, I know I’m just messing with you.”

“I’ll keep track of the points,” Daishou suggested.

Everyone nodded. “Don’t cheat just cause your precious lover is on their team,” Kita said, smirking.

Daishou glared at him. “I don’t have a lover.”

"But you can." Terushima insisted.

Daishou's eyes widned and his cheeks flushed a pale pink. "No thanks."

"Don't play hard to get!" Kuroo stated. "You're already hard to want!"

Daishou glared at the later and walked over to where the point system was and stood behind it. The others resumed their game and Daishou watched, giving the points to whatever team scored. After almost an hour, Terushima’s team had won. 

“Anyone want another round?” Terushima offered. “And Suguru you could play too!”

Daishou shrugged his shoulders. “Sure, I guess.”

Everyone else agreed, and Sakusa volunteered to replace Daishou as the person who kept track of the points. Daishou went over to where Bokuto, Daichi and Kita were. Daichi and Oikawa played rock, paper, scissors to decide which team does what first. Daichi had won so he decided we would serve first. 

“Guys, I’m pretty good at setting the ball so if anything I could set it for one of you,” he informed. The others nodded and then Daichi got ready to serve first. Daichi hit it over making Oikawa receive it which meant someone else would have to set it. 

“Got it!” Kuroo exclaimed. “Ushiwaka!” 

Kuroo bumped it in Ushijima’ direction, and Ushijima jumped up, ready to spike it with his left hand. Kita and Bokuto jumped up in an attempt to block it, though not many people  _ could  _ block Ushijima. Ushijima found an opening and spiked it in between Kita and Bokuto’ arms. Daichi attempted to receive, but it slipped into the opposite direction he meant for it to go, making the ball go out of bounds. 

“Sorry!” Daichi apologized. 

Kita clapped Daichi on the back. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get the next one.” 

Kuroo got ready to serve the ball, he tossed it up and jumped-served it in Kita’ direction. Kita perfectly received it, and aimed it to go towards Daishou. He jumped up and got ready to spike it.

He smirked when he realized Oikawa had fallen for his trick. "Bokuto!" He serve it to the latter  who smirked and jumped up and spiked over with such ease it seemed impossible. The ball hit the ground giving them the point. 

“Yeah!” Bokuto exclaimed, giving Daishou a high five, which he complied with. Kita took the ball and got ready to serve, he served it normally and the game continued like that. Daishou’ team had won the first set but Terushima’ team won the second two, leaving them the victors. 

“Dinner!” Oikawa called out, after coming back out from going inside to get some water for everyone. Bokuto jumped up from sitting on the ground and sprinted over to Oikawa, Kuroo following behind him. The rest of them laughed at the two boys and got up and calmly walked over to them. They sat down where they had at the table yesterday, Oikawa’ butlers came out holding trays and placed them all on the table and then excused themselves. Everyone took a fair share of food, some more than others, for example Bokuto who took roughly 3 servings of meat. Everyone enjoyed their food. Daishou had noticed Terushima took the smallest amount of food though nobody else had seemed to notice, but Daishou was concerned. He hoped he wasn’t going back to what happened a few years previous. Daishou erased the thought from his mind, he knew Terushima would talk to him if it happened again. Well he hoped.

Once they finished eating they decided to play another round of volleyball. They had decided to change the teams, them now being: Daishou, Terushima, Sakusa and Oikawa and the second team being: Ushijima, Daichi, Bokuto and Kuroo. Kita had mentioned that he wanted a break so he chose to do the points. They waited a while before actually playing just to let their food start to digest, but they did start to warm up again. Once they decided to start playing, Daishou and Bokuto played rock, paper, scissors to decide who started doing what. Daishou had won and he decided to serve first. Oikawa took the ball and got ready to serve. Oikawa served and immediately got a service acee, he kept getting service aces until Daichi eventually picked up the ball which was 3 times after the first. Daichi aimed the ball towards Kuroo and Kuroo served it towards Ushijima who spiked it right into Daishou’ court giving their team their first point. They quickly celebrated before Bokuto got ready to serve. He threw the ball up and served it into Daishou’ court, but Daishou received the ball perfectly. He aimed for it to go towards Oikawa who served it towards Sakusa, who spiked it perfectly into the opposite court. Terushima took the ball and got ready to serve. Daishou found himself putting his hands up behind his head, as if to protect himself from what had happened before. Terushima served it but right into Daichi’ hands who received it in Kuroo’ direction and Kuroo served it towards Bokuto. Daishou and Terushima jumped up ready to block the serve but Bokuto at the last second went from a straight to a cross shot, leaving Daishou’ team dumbfounded. 

The game went on like that until eventually Daishou’s team eventually won. They had decided to head inside since it had become dark outside. They gathered their things and went inside. They made their way back up to Oikawa’ room and Sakusa went into the shower before anyone else could, leaving everyone else sitting around Oikawa’ room. Daishou yawned loudly, making almost everyone else in the room yawn after him.

“Dude how are you tired? You woke up 4 hours ago!” Kuroo exclaimed.

Daishou shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe because we just played a very long game.” 

“You’re not going to sleep at all tonight,” Oikawa said, in a know-it-all tone.

Daishou shrugged his shoulders once more. “Yeah I know.”

Oikawa sighed. “‘I’m so hungry.”

“Oiks, you just ate an hour ago.” Kita pointed out.

“‘I know but  _ someone  _ took all the meat,” Oikawa replied, staring right at Bokuto. 

Bokuto just stared back at Oikawa. “What? I was hungry?”

“So were the rest of us Bo-chan!” Oikawa exclaimed.

They laughed and joked around while changing who went into the shower next. After about 2 hours everyone had taken their showers and were now taking turns playing on Oikawa’ nintendo switch. They played Mario kart and a pair took turns racing the others and whoever had the most wins  _ ‘went forward’  _ in the competition. Daishou had easily won against Kuroo in the first round, followed by Oikawa winning against Bokuto, then Terushima winning against Ushijima, followed by Daichi winning against Kita. Since they were an uneven number Sakusa chose not to play. Daishou won against Daichi and Oikawa had won against Terushima. The rule was whoever won the final round would sit out when they would play again and Sakusa would replace them. It was now Daishou against Oikawa and it was a tough one but in the last round Oikawa beat Daishou. 

“WOOHOO!” Oikawa exclaimed, as he jumped up in victory.

“It’s only because you’ve played this hundreds of times,” Kuroo pointed out. 

Oikawa lightly kicked Kuroo in the back. “Be quiet Tetsu-kun! I won fair and square!”

“Round 2!” Bokuto cheered, grabbing the remote from Oikawa.

Daichi stood up from where he was sitting and took the remote Daishou had given him. “Good luck Bo, but I’ve played this with Suga and Asahi all the time, you could say I’m an expert.”

“I barely played, you ain’t seen nothing yet!” Bokuto announced.

“That’s the type of attitude we’re looking for Bo!” Kuroo exclaimed, clapping the latter on the back.

Daichi and Bokuto started playing. Daishou moved further back on Oikawa’ bed, sitting next to Terushima.

“Me versus you,” Terushima whispered in Daishou’ ear.

Daishou looked at Terushima and smirked. “Bet.”

When Daichi beat Bokuto, they gave their remotes to Kuroo and Kita who immediately began to play. 

“It’s Suguru and I next!” Terushima announced, scooting closer to behind Kuroo and Kita on the couch in front of the bed. 

“Oh!" Oikawa said excitedly, dragging out the o. "The game of the night." The brunet clapping enthusiastically at the end of his sentence. Daishou rolled his eyes and scooted forward, next to Terushima. “Couple of the year too.”

“If you don’t shut up.” Daishou threatened. “I’m going to kick you off your bed.”

“No need to be so violent Shou-chan!” 

Daishou rolled his eyes once more, “Don’t call me that.” He waited for Kuroo and Kita to finish. Once Kita won, Daishou scooted forward to sit on the couch in front of the bed, his hoodie lifting a bit in the back. Kita gave Daishou the remote, and took his place behind him on the bed. Kuroo gave Terushima his remote and the two boys started playing immediately. It wasn’t until halfway through that Kita said something.

“Hey Shou-kun?” Kita questioned. “What are those marks on your back?”


	19. Night 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey Shou-kun?” Kita questioned. “What are those marks on your back?” 
> 
> “What marks?” Oikawa asked, leaning towards Kita.
> 
> “‘It was like bruises or something,” Kita responded, shrugging his shoulders.
> 
> “Woah,” Kuroo butted in, smirking. “Have you been getting it on?”
> 
> “Shut it Kuroo.” Terushima said sternly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: MENTIONS OF ABUSE
> 
> Yes one part of this is heavily inspired by sk8 the infinity.  
> JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU JEALOUS TERU

“Hey Shou-kun?” Kita questioned. “What are those marks on your back?” 

Immediately when that question was asked, Daishou turned around pulling his hoodie down behind him. Unintentionally he fell off the couch and landed on his butt. Terushima paused the game. 

“What marks?” Oikawa asked, leaning towards Kita.

“‘It was like bruises or something,” Kita responded, shrugging his shoulders.

“Woah,” Kuroo butted in, smirking. “Have you and Teru been getting it on?”

“Shut it Kuroo.” Terushima said sternly.

Kuroo immediately stopped talking. 

“Daishou what’s going on?” Daichi asked, standing up from sitting on the ground.

Daishou said nothing. Instead he looked at everyone, his eyes widened.  _ They can’t find out. It’s already bad enough  _ he  _ knows.  _ Those were some of the thoughts running through Daishou’s mind. Terushima slowly slid down from the couch moving towards Daishou, though all Daishou did was move further back. When Terushima saw this he stopped. Instead he mouthed the words  _ ‘you have to tell them,’  _ Daishou shook his head vigorously at Terushima. After a few moments of silent debating between the two boys, Daishou sighed in defeat. Daishou continued to stay nothing, instead he stood up and took off his  hoodie, his back still facing the wall. 

“Ayo!” Kuroo exclaimed, covering his eyes. “Don’t just start stripping!” 

“Do you want to know or not?!” Daishou snapped. Kuroo looked taken aback. Daishou then turned around so they all could see the bruises. He heard gasps come from all directions.

“Shou-kun, what happened?” Oikawa asked, moving closer to the latter. Daishou turned back around and gently lent his back on the cold wall behind him. 

“It’s a long story,” Daishou said at last.

“Tell us everything,” Kuroo said, sitting next to Oikawa at the foot of the bed. 

“I-” Daishou tried to protest but Sakusa cut him off.

“You haven’t been treating those correctly.”

“Huh?” 

Sakusa stood up from where he was sitting near the big window. “I mean, if you’re hoping they’ll just fade with time, you’re going to be sitting there for a _long_ time.” When Daishou didn’t say anything, Sakusa continued. “If you want, I can help you in the bathroom, before you think about think about telling anyone anything.” The last part he looked at the others. 

Daishou looked down at Terushima for support, but all he did was nod. Daishou looked back up to Sakusa. “Sure.” 

“Oiks, do you guys have a first aid kit?” Sakusa asked. 

“Uh, I think so, let me check.” Oikawa got up from the bed and rushed into the bathroom. They heard him rummaging through cabinets when he finally sighed in relief. He came back out holding a big black bag with a red cross across it. “Here we go.”

Sakusa nodded and walked over to Oikawa, taking the bag from him. He motioned his hand signaling Daishou to follow after him, which the latter complied with. Once Sakusa locked the door of the bathroom, he faced Daishou. 

“Turn around.”

Daishou nodded and faced himself in the mirror. Sakusa put the first aid kit on the counter and opened it looking through it for what he needed. Daishou didn’t really pay attention but he shuddered when he felt something cold end up on his back. Daishou  _ mainly  _ wondered how he was going to tell everyone how that happened.  _ ‘Oh you know the usual my parents hit me so hard I’ve had this bruise for over two weeks.’  _ How was he supposed to explain it? He was thankful Sakusa didn’t ask him about it. His thoughts were interrupted when a knock on the bathroom door occurred. 

“Busy.” Sakusa said plainly. 

“It’s me, let me in.” Terushima answered, his voice muffled on the other side of the door. 

Sakusa looked at Daishou in the mirror for approval. Daishou said nothing but he nodded. “Hold on.” Sakusa walked over to the door and unlocked it. Terushima walked in and closed the door behind him. 

“I thought you told me they were getting better.” Those were the first things to leave Terushima’ lips. Daishou didn’t look in Terushima’ direction, he couldn’t. Sakusa went back to what he was doing. “Why’d you lie to me?” His voice broke. “Tell me.”

Daishou looked down in the sink. “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

Terushima walked toward the two boys. “That’s not an explanation.” 

“I know, but I can’t tell you why. I’m sorry.”

He sighed. “Fine, whatever.” Daishou kept his gaze down, shivering once again from Sakusa treating him. 

Truth was, Daishou didn’t know why he lied. He suspected he had harassed himself into thinking people didn’t truly care about what happened to him. But deep down, he knew it was a lie. He knew there were people, like Terushima, who truly did care about what happened to him, but he never trusted that side of him because the fear of rejection always haunted him. Ever since those days back in junior high, he never really trusted anyone again. Of course there were a select few, but not many people who knew his deepest secrets. Not many like Terushima or Mika. It’s not that he didn’t think they weren't going to accept him if he came out as gay, it was more he was still afraid everyone would end up like his parents. He may have been able to leave their household, but he’d never be able to run from the trauma and he knew this. 

“Can you at least look at me?”

Daishou slowly lifted his head and looked in the mirror. There he saw Sakusa behind him, still doing what he had been before, and Terushima to the left of him. Daishou looked at Terushima and then down at the ground. 

“I’m done, I’ll be out in Oiks room,” Sakusa announced once he had finished. He put everything back into the first aid kit and then left the bathroom closing the door behind him. 

“What are you gonna tell them?” Terushima asked, the moment he heard the door close. 

“I don’t know.” He admitted. He had zero clue what he was going to tell them. Sure they were all some of his closest friends, but he never imagined having to tell all of  them this. “I guess I’d have to tell them everything, because I doubt I could get it passed as I just fell off my bike or something.” 

Terushima nodded. “But it was tough enough for you to tell me, how are you gonna tell them without going through all that again?” 

Terushima knew how to trick him, Daishou was certain of that. “Well what am I supposed to do?” 

“I don’t know,” he mumbled. “I suppose you’d have to. But if you can’t, I’ll help you.”

He looked Terushima in the eyes. “Really?” 

Terushima nodded. “Yeah, I know it was hard for you to tell me, and having to tell all of them at the same time. That may be even harder.”

“It’ll be fine,” he said, looking up from the ground. He smiled at Terushima. “You’ll be there with me, right?”

Terushima smiled. “Right.”

The two boys stood there for a while, looking anywhere but each other. “Let’s go.” Daishou finally said at last. Terushima nodded. The two of them walked over to the door of the bathroom and stepped out. The moment they did, all eyes were on them. Daishou took a deep breath and then walked over to Oikawa’s bed, Terushima following behind him. 

“Ok so what happened?” Oikawa asked immediately, earning him a shank to the side from Daichi.

“He’ll tell us when he tells us, damn Oiks.” Daichi crossed his arms over his chest. 

Oikawa rubbed his side. “Dai-kun, that hurt!” 

“Then stop pressuring him!” 

The two began bickering until Daishou cleared throat. The two immediately stopped and looked at him. “Can I talk now?” The two nodded vigorously. Daishou told them everything. He told them everything from the beginning, even some things Terushima didn’t know himself. He kept talking until eventually the whole story was out there. No one said anything, everyone trying to process what they had heard. Daishou looked down at his hands. He started regretting telling them everything. He subconsciously started fidgeting with his fingers. Minutes passed, though it felt like hours to Daishou. Around 10 minutes passed and still no one said anything. The silence was excruciating. He noticed that he had been fidgeting with his fingers, so he stopped unexpectedly. As soon as he stopped someone hugged him from behind.

“What the-” he however was cut off when he was buried in a mountain of people. He began hitting lightly whoever was in his line of view, and in his reach. “Can’t- breathe-”

They laughed and slowly got off from the top of him. He rubbed his back from the sudden force of everyone on him at the same time. Everyone had begun speaking at once, and Daishou began to feel overwhelmed. His eyes widened and he unintentionally dug his nails into his palms.

“Guys, shut it.” Terushima interrupted their sympathies. “You’re gonna overwhelm him.”

Sorry,” they all said in unison.

He gave an awkward laugh. “It’s ok.”

“Sorry for pressuring you to tell us.” Oikawa apologized.

“Me too.” Kuroo added.

“It’s ok.”

They all slowly started talking again, each taking their turns at asking questions. They did eventually stop asking after around 20 minutes. Daishou was done talking about the situation, and everyone respected that.

“You guys wanna keep playing?” Oikawa offered.

Daishou and Terushima’s gaze met. Terushima raised his eyebrow as if questioning,  _ ‘do you want to play again?’  _ and Daishou nodded.

“Suguru and I haven’t finished our round yet.” Terushima said, moving to grab the remote before the others could. He tossed one to Daishou, which he caught, and the two sat on the couch in front of Oikawa’ bed. They began to play immediately, restarting from the beginning instead of continuing from before. Terushima had beaten Daishou in the end and he jumped up in victory. “YAHOO!”

Daishou laughed and moved back onto the bed, Terushima following after him. “Good game.”

Terushima nodded. “You were a worthy opponent.”

“You guys gonna stop flirting any time soon?” Oikawa asked, crossing his arms over his chest. The brunet had barely avoided Daishous' kick. “Rude! I let you sleep on my bed and this is how you treat me?!”

Daishou laughed. “And what about it?”

Oikawa gasped dramatically. “I will kick you-”

“Oi! Put a sock in it!” Kuroo interjected, in the middle of his round against Kita. They had all collectively agreed to restart the  _ ‘match’  _ with Oikawa still sitting out.

“Tetsu-kun!” Oikawa complained.

“Shush!” He exclaimed.

Oikawa grunted and crossed his arms over his chest once again. Terushima and Daishou laughed at the two.

“What are you two laughing about?!” Oikawa asked, in a threatening tone.

The two boys shook their heads, covering their faces with their hands. “N-Nothing,” Daishou stuttered out. This made Terushima start to laugh more, eventually everyone around them had started to laugh, just because of them.

Once everyone had eventually calmed down, Kuroo and Kita finished their round, Kita being crowned the visitor. Next up was Daichi against Bokuto. Bokuto got really excited and bumped into anything and everything. Once Daichi had won, Ushijima and Sakusa played against each other. This match was a tough one, Sakusa was unexpectedly good at mario kart. Once Sakusa was crowned the victor, it was Terushima against Kita. The two had good strategies from the beginning, in the end Terushima had won. It was now Sakusa against Daichi. Sakusa quickly beat the latter. Barely giving Terushima time to drink water. Terushima set his water down and joined Sakusa on the couch, the two started their round a few moments later. Sakusa had immediately pulled the lead, Terushima close behind. Sakusa had won in the end but not by very much. 

“Sakusa when’d you learn how to play like that?” Oikawa asked dumbfoundedly. 

Sakusa shrugged his shoulders. “I played a few times and I knew most of your strategies anyways.” 

Oikawa sighed. “No fair being the first person to sit out.” 

“You sat out now, didn’t you?” He asked, though he obviously knew.

“I mean yeah, but that’s because I won in the first place.” Oikawa answered, leaning back on his pillows. 

Sakusa rolled his eyes. “Now I get another break.”

“Are you suggesting that we play again?” Kuroo asked, sitting up straight from the couch at the window.

“Yes.” Sakusa replied plainly. 

“Are you having fun Kiyomi?” Oikawa asked with a smirk.

“Maybe," he answered with a small smile.

"Kiyomi's getting soft guys," Kita stated.

"I'm not turning soft." 

"Aw, Sakusa do you like us?" Terushima asked.

"You guys are my best friends, of course I like you guys."

"Aw Omi-kun," Bokuto said, his eyes glistening.

"Don't call me that."

Kuroo and Daichi decided to play against each other, but this time just for fun, no one really wanted to do  _ another  _ round of the game. They each took turns playing, Terushima and Daishou played a few more rounds, Terushima winning most of them. Daishou had a good time. He was glad he told them about what had happened. It felt like a huge weight lifted off his chest, he hadn’t told them about his sexuality yet, the only person in this room who knew for sure, was Terushima. He was glad it was like that. He would tell them eventually though, this moment simply didn’t feel right. There was too much happening, he would tell them soon, hopefully. Daishou leaned his back against the back of Oikawa’ bed, Terushima sat next to him. The two scrolled through Daishou’ phone, looking at funny videos, basically ignoring everyone else. 

“Teru! Me versus you!” Kuroo challenged. Terushima raised his eyebrow, and looked up from Daishou’s phone. 

“You sure?” Terushima asked in a mocking tone. Kuroo nodded enthusiastically. “Alright, get ready to lose.” Terushima got up from where he was sitting and moved to the couch.

“I won’t lose!” Kuroo announced.

He lost.

“Rematch!” 

He lost again.

He kept losing to the point Terushima felt bad and just stopped playing all together.

“That’s enough Tetsu-kun.”

“How do you keep winning? I play all the time with Kenma!” 

“And have you ever won against Kenma?” Terushima asked, looking at Kuroo already knowing the answer.

Kuroo frowned and looked down. “No.” Daishou laughed and Kuroo glared at him. “Have something to say?” 

Daishou shook his head. “No. Nothing at all. Just that I bet I could beat you.”

“Oh really? You come play then!” Kuroo challenged. 

Daishou sighed and got up, walking towards the couch. “Don’t challenge me to a rematch if you lose though.”

“I won’t.”

He lost again.

“Rema-”

“No.” Daishou interjected and stood up. He got back onto the couch and sat next to Terushima and Kita. Daishou watched as Kuroo challenged everyone else in the room, losing every time, even against Bokuto who wasn’t the best at the game. Subconsciously, he started fidgeting with his fingers, he was anxious, though he didn’t know why. At one point he zoned out and was only brought back by someone shaking him side to side. “Huh?” 

“Earth to Daishou?!” Oikawa asked, waving his hand in front of Daishou’ face. “Finally. We need you to break the tie for what we should do. Should we go skateboarding or stay in and watch a movie?” 

Daishou rubbed his eyes. “I don’t have a skateboard though.”

“Don’t worry about that, I have enough for everyone.” Oikawa reassured. 

“Then I guess skateboarding.” 

Oikawa, Terushima, Kuroo and Bokuto jumped up in victory. 

Kita sighed, “I thought you were gonna be on our side for this one Shou-kun.”

“We watched two movies last night. What's the point of doing it again?”

“That’s what we were saying!” Terushima exclaimed. 

“You were asleep for the second and half of the first one, you can’t talk.” Kita said.

Terushima crossed his arms across his chest and stuck his tongue out. “You’re just a sore loser.” 

They started bickering and Oikawa asked hjm, Ushijima and Daichi to help him bring all the skateboards up here. The four of them walked out of the room, leaving the other five to sort out that problem. They followed Oikawa down to where Daishou believed to be the garage and entered through the door. When Daishou walked in he probably walked into the largest garage he had ever seen. There were three cars parked in the garage and space for at least another two cars to fit in. Oikawa walked to the opposite side of the room to a rack full of skateboards. He took down one and passed it to one of the other 3. Daishou, Oikawa and Daichi took two in their hands, while Ushijima carried three instead. They made their way back up to Oikawa’s room, careful not to walk into anything, as Daishou didn’t want to ruin anything and have to pay for it with the money he didn't have. They reentered the room to see Terushima and Kita still bickering, but they stopped when they noticed everyone had returned. Daishou took one of the ones he was holding and placed the other one on the ground where the others were. They each took a skateboard and gathered some things they’d bring. Daishou quickly changed into a T-shirt and a hoodie and changed into sweatpants. He grabbed his water bottle and picked up his skateboard and waited for everyone else to finish. Terushima still wore the hoodie that Daishou had given him the night before, Daishou smiled internally. Everyone had eventually finished and they all left Oikawa’ room, they carefully and quietly left the huge house and began making their way to a skate park that Oikawa knew of nearby. It was around 1 in the morning, so out of impulse, this is obviously an idea of what people wanted to do. They skated there, Daishou was a bit rusty in his skateboarding skills but he quickly got back into the loop of things. Once they got there, Daishou noticed 2 other groups of people, the first group composed of three people, a pair of twins and another guy with brown hair with his bangs sticking out the sides. The second group consisted of around 15 people mainly men with around 5 women. 

“Omi-Omi?” Daishou heard someone ask. Everyone turned towards the voice that had called for Sakusa, Sakusa turned a little too sharply that Daishou feared he would’ve fallen off his skateboard but he managed.

“Tsumu?” Sakusa asked. Sakusa stared dumbfoundedly at Atsumu at first, then Atsumu ran towards Sakusa as the latter stopped his skateboard. The two embraced in a tight hug. The other two guys walked over to the group and introduced themselves as Osamu and Suna, but they didn’t talk much after that. Daishou slowly and quietly separated himself from the group and skated on his own, or he thought he was alone. He skated around, doing a few tricks here and there. It wasn’t until he stopped to get a sip of water that he realized Terushima had been there watching him.

“How long have you been sitting there?” Daishou intrigued.

Terushima smiled. “The whole time. You’re really good you know?”

Daishou smiled slightly. “Thanks.” Daishou looked around him making sure no one was nearby and quickly took off his hoodie, pulling the shirt he had worn under done quickly. 

“Can you teach me to do some tricks?” Terushima asked, smiling at the darker haired boy.

Daishou shrugged his shoulders while standing up again. “There’s not much I know but sure.”

Terushima jumped up eagerly. “Really?! Great!”

Daishou taught him everything he knew, he didn’t know how to do much as he didn’t skateboard often. He only skateboarded if his friends brought their board somewhere and would let him use it, which shockingly was more often than not. He had thought about getting a board for himself, and he had originally asked his parents for one, but all they did was lecture him on the dangers of having one and using it. He needed a job first, that was his number one priority, tied with volleyball and a few other things. Once Terushima had grown good progress in the tricks Daishou had taught him, he chose to sit down and watch while Terushima chose to continue doing it over and over again until he got it. That was one thing he admired about the blonde. No matter how many times he fell, he’d always get back up. He knew it sounded cliché but it was the truth, and for that matter he didn’t care how it sounded like. He never knew how the blonde could do that, at one point or another Daishou would just give up on getting up, he would simply stay down, waiting for someone to help him. Terushima was strong. Daishou knew this. He knew he had things going on in his own personal life, but he never liked to share about it. After what happened last time, Daishou continued to worry for the latter. 

Daishou hadn’t realized it but he had been staring at Terushima. He only came to his senses when something hit him on the side of the head. While rubbing the side of his head he looked to see what had hit him. It was someone’s water bottle, looking at it more closely he realized it was Kita’s. Daishou looked up at the person he had assumed threw it at him and he was correct. Kita jogged over to Daishou.

“Sorry slipped out of my hands.” Kita lied.

“Mhm ok,” Daishou snarled, handing the water bottle back to Kita and then returning his attention to Terushima once more. 

“You're just going to keep staring at him even if I hit you with my water bottle?” Kita asked, in a teasing tone.

Daishou glared at the latter. “I’m just watching him try to land tricks, that’s all there is to it.”

“Yeah right.” Kita said, sitting next to Daishou on the edge of the slope. “Look you know none of us care if you’re gay or not right? If you are, you don’t have to be scared to tell us.” Daishou didn’t answer, he continued staring ahead of him, though now he wasn’t staring at Terushima, he was simply just lost in thought. “I need you to be honest with me right now, ok?” Daishou looked at Kita, waiting for what Kita was going to ask him. “I know you probably don’t want to tell me, and I shouldn’t force you, but are you in love with him?”

Those words hit Daishou like a train. He knew precisely who Kita meant by  _ ‘him’ _ . He never thought he’d admit it to anyone but himself and Mika but he found himself nodding to his question. His gaze moved from Kita’ smile to his hands. Was it really that obvious that he liked Terushima? 

“I know you probably didn’t want me or anyone else to know, and I promise I won’t tell anyone. It’s just between me and you. But thank you for telling me.” 

Daishou looked up to Kita. “You swear?” 

“I swear.”

With that Kita took his leave, clearly satisfied with what he had come there for. Terushima ran up to Daishou in that moment following. 

“Suguru! Watch me ok?!” Terushima asked in an eager tone.

Daishou backed his face away in surprise, but quickly nodded his head. “Ok, I’m watching.” Terushima ran back to where he had been moments before and got ready to do the trick. He ran back and then hopped on his skateboard getting enough momentum to do the trick. When Terushima jumped up, it seemed that time was moving in slow motion. Terushima had a perfect form, and the lamppost behind him seemed to give the effect of a spotlight. Daishou’s mouth slightly dropped at how beautiful it looked. It had barely taken Terushima an hour to do it, when it had taken Daishou at least 2 weeks. Though the moment was ruined when Terushima went to land and the board slid from under his feet, making the blonde land on his butt. Daishou walked over to Terushima with a small smile on his face. “How does it feel to have done your first ollie?” Daishou asked while sticking his hand out to help Terushima stand up.

Terushima took his hand and pulled himself up. “Great. And I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Daishou cheeks flushed a light pink. “D-Don’t say stuff like that.” Daishou looked away and picked up his skateboard.

“What? Are you embarrassed?” Terushima teased, poking Daishou’s side.

Daishou started laughing. “No, and stop it!” Terushima stopped after a few more pokes. “Let’s go back to the others.”

Terushima nodded. “Sure!” Terushima picked up his skateboard and grabbed the two of their water bottles and the two boys started walking back towards everyone. 

“Oh, so you guys finally decided to stop flirting and come back?” Kuroo teased, placing one hand on his hip. 

Daishou rolled his eyes. “We were just skating somewhere else. Is there a problem with that rooster head?” 

"Rooster head?!" Kuroo asked in disbelief. He shook his head in disagreement. "No, no problem at all."

“Thought so.”

Time passed rather quickly after that, and before they knew it, it was 4 in the morning. People yawned and nearly fell asleep on their skateboards.

“We should head back now.” Ushijima decided. Nobody answered, they all just nodded their heads lazily and stood up. The only people who seemed to be awake were Sakusa and Atsumu. It was as if they filled each other up with energy. They hugged one last time before Atsumu, Osamu and Suna took their leave. Around five minutes later, Sakusa looked like he was going to fall asleep standing up. 

The group made their way back to Oikawa’ house, all sluggishly following behind Oikawa, who led the way. By the time they got back, it was already four thirty in the morning, the sun would rise in about 2 hours. They quietly made their way back to Oikawa’ room. Sakusa wasted no time in putting his stuff down and going to shower. Oikawa, Ushijima, Daichi and Daishou brought the skateboards down, once again. When Daishou returned, Sakusa left the bathroom, Daishou took this opportunity to take his clothes and take another shower himself. He was filthy from falling over, and he had small cuts on his hands and elbows. He washed them off, making a mental note to clean them up properly once he finished his shower. He finished his shower and put fresh clothes on, he then walked over to the mirror and took the first aid kit out of the cabinet where he had seen Oikawa put it. He cleaned up his scratches and bandaged them up. He put the kit back where it was supposed to be and then walked back out. He sat on the bed next to Terushima who looked like he was about to fall asleep, but forced himself to stay awake. 

“Had a nice shower?” Terushima asked.

Daishou nodded. “Yeah, it was ok.” 

“I’m gonna go now.” Terushima answered, standing up from the bed. He got his clothes from his bag and walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. 

“Do I get to shower in _ my  _ house?” Oikawa asked sarcastically.

“No.” Kuroo, Sakusa and Daishou answered. 

Oikawa kicked the person closest to him, which happened to be Daishou. “Mean.” 

“You just kicked me.” He deadpanned. 

“Ok, and?” Oikawa questioned, sarcasm coming out from every word. Daishou raised his hand, and Oikawa backed away, nearly falling off his bed in the process. “Ok! Ok! I’m sorry!” 

“Thought so.” 

They talked for a bit when, finally, Terushima left the bathroom shaking excess water from his water. He wore no shirt and gray sweatpants, Daishou felt his cheeks start to go red. Before he could get a nosebleed he sharply looked away and focused his attention on anywhere but Terushima. The gaze he met was  _ obviously  _ Kita's, who was smirking at him. 

“Teru!” Kita exclaimed, getting Terushima’ attention. “Lift your hands up and stretch for me.”

“What? Why-”

“Just do it.”

“Ok?” Terushima lifted his arms over his head confusingly, taking a long awaited stretch. Daishou tried his hardest to not look but at one point he couldn’t help himself and looked over to Terushima confusingly stretching. Daishou inhaled sharply through his nose, erasing all possibilities of embarrassing himself and quickly looked away. 

Kita laughed, satisfied. “Ok, you can stop now, I just needed to see something.”

“What? Is there something on my stomach?” Terushima asked, in a small panic. He quickly looked down and looked at his stomach searching for something on him. 

“No no, don’t worry, it was something else.” Kita reassured.

“Ok.” Terushima sat next to Daishou and handed him, what seemed to be, his hoodie from the previous night. “You can have it back now.”

Daishou looked at the hoodie then at Terushima. “Oh, you can have it, I don’t need it.”

“No, no take it back, it’s yours.”

“Don’t worry about it. I have plenty of others, you saw my closet.” Daishou informed him.

“You sure?”

Daishou nodded. “Yeah, it’s yours.”

Terushima put it on and looked at Daishou. “You can’t take it back now. I’m going to keep it.”

Daishou laughed silently. “It’s fine don’t worry.” 

“What do you mean he’s seen your closet?” Bokuto asked, sitting on the couch in front of the bed.

Daishou stared at Bokuto as if he was the dumbest person in the world. “It means exactly what I said.”

Bokuto frowned slightly. “I mean an explanation.”

“I just went over to his house a few times, and spent the night and borrowed his clothes, and-” Terushima rambled. 

“And that’s it! See!” Daishou interrupted, covering Terushima’s mouth with his hand to stop him from talking. He felt the blonde smirk against his palm, stick his tongue out and lick Daishou’ palm. Daishou immediately removed his hand wiping it against his shirt. “Aw! Yuck!”

Terushima giggled. “Don't cover my mouth then.”

“Jeez sorry, no need to lick me.”

“It’s a way of showing affection!” Terushima announced.

Daishou rolled his eyes, his cheeks started to tint to a light pink. “That is not affection, that’s just you being petty.”

“Same difference.”

“Not at all.” Daishou informed.

“Well would you rather I kiss you?!” Terushima suggested.

His eyes widened and he said nothing. Instead everyone around them laughed at the two, his cheeks started to redden with embarrassment, he brought his hands to his face and faced down. 

“Teru don’t say stuff like that, unless you’re trying to declare your love for him.” Kuroo informed through laughs.

Terushima shrugged his shoulders. “What? I was just asking if he’d rather I kissed him.”

Bokuto clenched his stomach, nearly falling off the couch he was sitting on. “Teru stop! You’re killing me here!”

“What?!” Terushima demanded. “It’s not funny!” 

Bokuto nodded his head aggressively. Daishou uncovered his face and stood up off the bed. 

“I’m gonna get some water.” He said, walking out of the room and down the stairs to the kitchen. He walked over to the fridge and opened it, grabbing a new bottle of water. Before going back up the stairs, he rinsed his face with water from the faucet. He rested his palms on the counter and leaned forward, taking a deep breath and letting it out. “He’s gonna be the death of me one day.” He took his water bottle and went back up the stairs quietly, entering Oikawa’s room, closing the door behind him. Everyone stared at him as he walked back over to the bed, sitting on it. He didn’t move back to where he had been before, instead just staying seated on the side of the bed, Terushima next to him and Oikawa and Daichi behind him. No one said anything for a moment.

“So, are you going to answer his question?” Kita asked jokingly.

Daishou threw his water bottle at the latter. “Shut up.”

“Ow!” Kita exclaimed as he received the bottle to the head. “That hurt!”

“I hope so.”

Kita gasped dramatically. “How dare you try to ruin my perfectly beautiful face!” 

Daishou snarled. “Yeah perfect all right.” He snapped back sarcastically.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Kita asked, throwing the water bottle back at Daishou.

He caught the bottle with one hand and looked up in Kita’s direction, an eyebrow raised. “What do you think it means?” 

“I think it means you’re in love with me.” Kita replied sarcastically, crossing his arms over his chest. He closed his eyes and looked up, facing away from Daishou.

Daishou laughed sarcastically. “As if.” He felt arms wrap around his waist and drag him backwards onto someone’s lap. Daishou looked up and realized it was Terushima’s lap. “Um?” Terushima said nothing, instead the blonde pulled him closer to him. Daishou’s cheeks started to redden, though he couldn’t move his hands to cover his face. 

“Teru, are you jealous?” Kuroo asked rhetorically. 

From the angle Daishou was in he couldn’t really see Terushima’ face, but he imagined he glared at Kuroo. 

“This is kind of uncomfortable,” he whispered to Terushima. Terushima loosened his grip and Daishou adjusted himself into a more comfortable position that being, him laying down in between Terushima’ legs, Terushima’ arms still around him.

“You guys-” Oikawa sighed. “Anyways I’m gonna go shower now.”

“You’re going to be out of hot water soon.” Sakusa reminded him. 

Oikawa shrugged his shoulders. “That sucks for you guys.” Oikawa took his clothes out of his dresser and then walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. 

No one spoke, Daishou wondered how long it’d be until Terushima would let him go, though he didn’t suspect any time soon. Terushima played with Daishou’ hair and his cheeks got noticeably more and more red as he did, he suspected they’d be permanently red after this. Kita started quietly laughing at Daishou but all he did was glare at the shorter male. Daishou relaxed in Terushima’ arms, he wouldn’t admit it to the others, but he enjoyed this. 

Everyone relaxed. Some people had fallen asleep, others were on their phones, some talked between each other quietly. Terushima and Daishou stayed how they were, but Daishou went on his phone and Terushima watched. Oikawa came out of the bathroom around 15 minutes later and Kuroo went in after him. 

“You guys still cuddling?” Oikawa asked rhetorically. 

Daishou just rolled his eyes and Terushima looked up at him. “Yup!” Daishou’s cheeks flamed red once more. 

Oikawa laughed. “I see that Teru-kun.” Daishou continued to scroll through his phone not looking at anything in particular, just avoiding conversation. He checked the time and it read 5am, he sighed and tried to sit up. 

“Where are you going?” Terushima asked, confused. 

“To sleep, it’s 5 in the morning.” Daishou replied. Terushima let go of his grip around Daishou and the latter felt like all the warmth he was feeling left his body. He shivered and moved more comfortably onto the bed. He laid down in between Terushima and Oikawa. He rolled onto his side, facing Terushima, and closed his eyes dozing off to sleep in an instant.


	20. Day 2 part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terushima checked the time. 5:20am. He turned off his phone and rolled onto his side, there he saw Daishou, peacefully sleeping. His cheeks went pink as he faced the dark haired male. He thought back to what had happened earlier that night. 
> 
> “What do you think it means?”  
> “I think it means you’re in love with me.”
> 
> What did that mean? He did agree with his inner thoughts that he shouldn’t have gotten jealous like he did, but it was a spur of the moment. He didn’t know what else to do. And it’s not like Daishou tried to leave his arms, so it wasn’t a horrible thing. Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're reading this you're swag. Sorry I don't make the rules

Terushima checked the time. 5:20am. He turned off his phone and rolled onto his side, there he saw Daishou, peacefully sleeping. His cheeks went pink as he faced the dark haired male. He thought back to what had happened earlier that night. 

_ “What do you think it means?” _

_ “I think it means you’re in love with me.” _

What did that mean? He did agree with his inner thoughts that he shouldn’t have gotten jealous like he did, but it was a spur of the moment. He didn’t know what else to do. And it’s not like Daishou tried to leave his arms, so it wasn’t a horrible thing. Right? 

He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep, but he failed. He sat back up and looked around the room to see who else was awake. Kuroo was still in the bathroom, Oikawa didn’t look like he wanted to sleep for a few more hours, Kita was on his phone and Daichi had dozed off not too long after Daishou. Terushima laid back down and stared at the ceiling. Had he been too forceful with Daishou? He agreed long ago that he shouldn’t have done what he did earlier but once again Daishou didn’t seem to mind. He felt like he and Daishou had bonded earlier that night when they had all gone to the skate park. Though Kita had talked to Daishou in the middle of it, he didn’t mind it at the time.  _ Were they dating? _ That’s ridiculous Terushima decided. Kita has said dozens of times he doesn’t like anyone in our friend group.  _ Had he been lying?  _ Kita wouldn’t lie about something like that,  _ would he?  _

He sighed again and rolled onto his side, closing his eyes. Whether or not he’d fall asleep any time soon, he’d have to. 

* * *

Terushima didn’t know when, but he did eventually fall asleep. When he woke it was around one in the afternoon. Terushima stayed laying as he was, his eyes closed. It wasn’t for around five minutes after waking up did he realize he had been cuddling the lower half of Daishou. His cheeks went red but he didn’t move, not daring to bring attention to himself. He knew Daishou was awake because, he was sitting up and in conversation with Kuroo and Bokuto.

“Look at it from my perspective,” Kuroo said. “It looks like you two are dating!” 

Daishou sighed. “How many times do I have to freaking tell you we’re not. And if you say it one more time I’m going to hit you.” 

“Hey!” Bokuto exclaimed, but quickly got shushed by the other two boys. “Sorry, anyways, what’s wrong with saying you two are dating? You two are both good people. There’s nothing wrong if you two are dating.”

“I don’t like guys anyways, and even if I did it’s not like he’d like me.” Daishou stated. “Just look at who I am-”

“Hey,” Kuroo interjected. “You’re not a bad person, you may piss me off all the time, but you’re not a bad person. So don’t say that you are.”

“It’s just how I feel, ok? No matter what you say is going to change that.” Daishou replied, leaning on the back of the bed.

Terushima kept his eyes closed, but tightened his grip on Daishou, he moved slightly closer to him, getting more comfortable. He couldn’t see Kuroo nor Bokuto’s faces, but he knew they were both smirking.

“Shut up!” Daishou exclaimed quietly.

“We didn’t say anything!” Kuroo and Bokuto exclaimed in unison, followed by shushing from who Terushima assumed was Sakusa given the distance. “Sorry.” They said in unison again.

Terushima felt and hand played with his hair and he fought off the urge to start smiling, but his face started going pink again. 

“I think someone’s awake.” Kutoo noticed.

Terushima didn’t move or say anything, he kept his eyes closed and hoped they would overlook his comment. Which of course, they didn’t.

Bokuto poked Terushima’s stomach. “Teru? You awake?” 

“Yuuji.” Daishou said quietly. Terushima stirred, getting even more comfortable then he could possibly be. “I’m gonna tickle you if you don’t open your eyes.”

Terushima didn’t move once more, he didn’t open his eyes and he didn’t say a word.

Kuroo chuckled. “C’mon Teru-chan, you wouldn’t want to be tickled would you?”

Bokuto poked Terushima’s cheek. “Guys, I think he’s dead.”

“He’s not dead.” Kuroo and Daishou said in unison.

“How do you know?”

“I see him breathing.”

“I feel his heartbeat.”

“Oh. That makes sense.”

“Shou-chan, you should kiss sleeping beauty awake.” Kuroo suggested.

Daishou said nothing, but Terushima suspected that he glared at the latter. “I’m not going to kiss him.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not going to.”

They began quietly bickering over it, while Terushima tried not to go red in the face. Terushima decided he may as well look like he just woke up to them fighting. He slowly opened his eyes, unwrapping one of his arms from around Daishout to rub his eyes.

“Speak of the devil, he’s awake.” Kuroo said, opening his arms out to him, as if presenting him to a crowd of people.

Terushima stuck his tongue out at him. “Who are you calling the devil?” He asked in a whisper.

Kuroo laughed and stretched his arms. Terushima stayed as he was, not wanting to leave from his position. Daishou continued to play with his hair, as if it were a reflex. Terushima looked up at Daishou.

“Good morning.” He said, still whispering.

“Afternoon, but all the same.” Daishou replied, laughing quietly.

“All you need to do is tell me 'Good morning' back, don’t correct me.”

“Good morning Yuuji.”

“Better. Now seal it with a kiss.”

“Alright, that’s enough of that.” Daishou slightly pushed Terushima off of him, shivering right after. “I can finally go to the bathroom.”

“Hey!” Terushima exclaimed. “I was comfortable!” 

“And I have to pee!” Daishou replied, followed by shushing from Sakusa and Daichi.

“Oh, good afternoon Daichi.” Kuroo greeted.

“Afternoon.” Daichi replied, rubbing his eyes and then sitting up on the bed.

“Why do you four get the bed the whole weekend and I have to sleep on the couch?” Kuroo complained.

“Try being Kita. He has to sleep on the floor.” Sakusa replied, putting his phone down and sitting up straight on the couch, careful not to kick Ushijima in the face.

“Yeah poor Kita.” Kuroo agreed. “Oikawa has this big ass house and room but no extra bed or anything?”

“Yeah sorry, I didn’t really think that far ahead at the beginning of high school when I moved into this house.” Oikawa answered groggily. He reached over Daichi and grabbed his water and took big gulps of it.

“Good afternoon to you too.” Daichi said.

Daishou walked out of the bathroom and sat back on the bed. He sighed. “I’m so tired.” He laid back, his feet hanging off the bed.

“You’re going to be in pain if you sleep like that.” Terushima informed.

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Daishou agreed. He lifted himself up slightly, using his elbows, and began to move backwards on the bed, to where he had been before.

Kuroo and Oikawa started playing against each other in Mario Kart once again. Kuroo continued attempting to win. Though it seemed he was on a losing streak, he never lost courage. 

“How do you do it?” Sakusa asked.

“Huh?” Kuroo and Oikawa questioned.

“Kuroo.” Sakusa clarified. “How do you keep going even though you keep losing?”

“Oh, well I just hope something will change sooner or later and hope for the best.” Kuroo admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

The two boys went back to the game, Kuroo almost winning a few but getting too cocky and losing once more. Daishou fell back asleep, his head leaning slightly on Terushima’s thigh. Terushima’s fingers landed in the taller male’s hair and combed through it. Terushima scrolled through his phone in one hand and kept Daishou at peace in the other. Everyone else started to wake up slowly but surely, Daishou was the only one still asleep around an hour later.

“Anyone hungry?” Oikawa asked.

“Yes!” Kuroo and Bokuto exclaimed.

Ushijima’s stomach growled. “It seems that I am.”

Daichi laughed at Ushijima. “Yeah, let’s get food.”

“Teru-kun, wake Shou-chan up, we’re gonna go out for food.” Oikawa informed him.

Terushima nodded and started poking Daishou. “Wake up.” He said repetitively.

Daishou groaned, eventually opening his eyes. “What?”

“We’re going out for food, get ready.” Oikawa told him. 

Daishou nodded and rubbed his eyes. “Yeah, yeah.” Daishou sat up and stared at the wall across from him. 

People started walking over to their bags and grabbing their clothes that they’ll change into. Terushima got off the bed and walked towards his own bag, next to Daishou’s.

“Ter- Yuuji.” Daishou corrected. “Toss me my bag.”

Terushima nodded and grabbed his bag, closing it before gently tossing it to him on the bed. “Here.”

“Thanks.”

Terushima grabbed a yellow shirt and black jeans. He put the yellow shirt on top of the black hoodie that Daishou had given him and quickly changed into the pants. He added some jewelry and then put on his shoes and looked at his outfit in Oikawa’s mirror, fixing his hair as much as he could at the time.

He noticed that Daishou wore a white shirt with a dark green unbuttoned shirt on top. He had black jeans, which somehow worked with the outfit, and black shoes on and a chain hanging on his pants.

Everyone finished changing and gathered their things and got ready to go. They all collectively agreed that Oikawa would pay, much to his dismay, and they made their way into town. They walked past dozens of small shops which a lot of them got distracted by, those being Oikawa, Kuroo, Terushima and Bokuto. They eventually made it to where they were going to eat.

McDonald’s.

Oikawa tricked them into going to a McDonald’s.

Though none really complained as it would still end up expensive on Oikawa’s end of the bargain. They ordered their food and Daichi, Ushijima and Kita waited with Oikawa for their orders to come out. The others went to find a seat for all of them. They sat down and waited for the others to come back.

When they came, they started eating their food almost immediately. Some slower than others and some chewing more than they could swallow.

When they finished eating, they left before getting an opportunity to get kicked out, and walked around town. They quickly found themselves in a park and all sat down at a table. Terushima fidgeted with his rings out of reflex and listened into whatever they were talking about.

“Why would you collect cans?” Oikawa asked Kuroo in disbelief.

“Because it looks cool, obviously.” Kuroo replied in an annoying tone and rolled his eyes dramatically. 

Oikawa stifled a laugh. “Yeah okay,  _ so  _ cool.”

“Hey!” Kuroo exclaimed. “You guys are telling me you haven’t collected something once in your life?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.” Oikawa reassured. “I’m just wondering why you’d collect cans of all things.”

“Because they’re cool to stack against my wall.” Kuroo huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“It’s ok bro!” Bokuto exclaimed. “I used to collect anything blue related.”

“Just blue?” Daichi asked curiously. 

Bokuto nodded his head vigorously. “Yeah! My room was totally full of blue! But then a few people made fun of it so I stopped.” 

“Hey! You should’ve kept collecting!’ Kuroo exclaimed. “Screw what those people say! Do what you want!”

Bokuto nodded sadly, his hair going down. “Yeah, I wish I did keep doing it.”

“You can always start collecting again, just maybe not so much blue.” Daichi suggested.

“What would I collect though?” Bokuto asked, leaning his head upon the palm of his hand.

“Hm.” Daichi thought. “What about bottle caps?”

“Or pencils.” Kita suggested.

They all turned towards Kita looking at him oddly. 

“Pencils?” Ushijima asked.

“Yeah!” Kita exclaimed. “Like from every place you visit! It’d be cool!”

“That does sound kind of cool, maybe I will!” Bokuto agreed.

“What would you collect Teru-kun?” Oikawa questioned. The brunet  seemed to have noticed his silence, and included him in the conversation.

“Um, I don’t know.” Terushima admitted.

“What suits you?” Kuroo wondered, leaning back on the seat of the table but almost falling off. “Shou-chan, what do you think he should collect?”

“Stop calling me that.” Daishou demanded. “And why are you asking me? I don’t know what he should collect.”

“I don’t know! You know him the best out of all of us!” Kuroo explained, shrugging his shoulders.

“He makes a good point.” Oikawa added.

Terushima’s cheeks went pink. “I think I’d collect something like, sweaters or shirts or something like that.”

“So just like,” Sakusa said. “Regular clothes?”

“Yeah!” Terushima exclaimed, a smile forming on his face. “But like, from different places! And then I’d write where I got it from somewhere!”

“That’s kinda cool,” Daishou agreed. “Expensive, but cooler than pencils.”

Terushima nodded. “Yeah!”

“Hey!” Kita and Bokuto complained.

Terushima laughed, cupping his hand over his mouth. They continued sharing what they’d collect. Oikawa would collect volleyballs. Ushijima would collect postcards. Kita would, like Bokuto, collect pencils. Daichi would collect mugs. Sakusa would collect keychains. 

“Really?” Kuroo questioned when hearing Daishou’s answer to the question. “Magazines?”

Daishou nodded softly. “Yeah, I think it’d be sort of cool to see how different countries do their magazines.”

“Yeah!” Terushima agreed. “And you could also learn other languages!”

“Yeah, that too.” Daishou agreed. 

About an hour later, they all decide to go back to Oikawa’s house, to gather up their things and then head back to their proper households. Terushima gathered his things and looked around the room making sure he didn’t forget anything. 

“Teru-kun!” Oikawa called out when Terushima started walking over to his dad’s car. 

He turned around and faced the brunet. “Yeah?”

“Here.” Oikawa said, handing him the skateboard he had used last night. “Keep it.”

“What? Why?”

Oikawa shrugged his shoulders. “You like it no? Plus I have a bunch. I’m giving one to Shou-chan too.”

“Well, thanks Oiks.” Terushima said, smiling. “See you Thursday.”

“See you.” 

Oikawa ran back inside his house, someone else coming out of it. Terushima started walking back to his dad’s car when someone called out to him again.

“Yuuji!”


	21. Day 2 Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terushima turned around again. “You ok?”
> 
> He nodded his head. “Yeah, fine. Can your dad give me a ride though. He doesn’t have to if anything I could take the bus.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stan Terushima's dad tbh.

Terushima turned around again. “Suguru. You ok?”

He nodded his head. “Yeah, fine. Can your dad give me a ride though. He doesn’t have to if anything I could take the bus.”

“I’ll ask him, also I think Oiks wants to give you something.” Terushima answered.

“Yeah, he said he’s grabbing something for me.”

“Be back in a second.”

Terushima jogged over to his dad’s car and put his things in the trunk. He opened the car door and asked his dad the question:  “Can we give Suguru a ride?”

“Yeah! Sure!”

“Ok, great!” 

He closed the door and jogged back to Daishou, who now held a skateboard. 

“He said sure,” Terushima told him. Daishou nodded. The two started walking back down to Terushima dad’s car. Terushima took Daishou’s bags and put them in the trunk as well. Terushima decided to join Daishou in the back seat of the car and they began going on their. 

“Want to come to our house for supper Daishou?” Terushima’s dad asked.

Daishou looked up to the driver’s seat and then to Terushima who just shrugged his shoulders, not knowing whether to nod aggressively or stare at the male with widened eyes. “Sure.” Daishou agreed.

“I’ll drive you home after that, alright?” 

“Yeah, that’s fine. Thank you, sir.”

Terushima’s dad laughed. “No need to be formal Daishou, call me Daiki.”

Daishou smiled. “Thank you, Daiki.” 

After that the car was filled with silence. The two boys awkwardly scrolled through their phones, occasionally sharing glances or showing each other things on their phone that they found funny.

Terushima leaned over to Daishou. “You know if you keep staring at me,” he whispered. “I’m going to start thinking you like me."

Daishou's ears went pink and his eyes widened. “I wasn’t staring at you.”

Terushima raised an eyebrow. “Really? Then what were you doing?”

“Looking outside the window.”

“The window?”

“The window.” Daishou repeated. 

Terushima nodded slowly. “And was anything happening out said window?”

“No. I was just looking out of it.”

Terushima nodded and faced forward. He then quickly leaned towards Daishou once more. “Why don’t you admit you were staring at me?” He whispered. “I was staring at you too you know?”

Daishou hummed and said nothing, looking back down at his phone. Terushima fake pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine, be like that.” Daishou laughed at a video on his phone. “What?”

“Just this dog being funny.” 

Terushima looked at the screen and saw what seemed to be a dog screaming into the microphone of a headset. Terushima laughed and then went back onto his phone.

The rest of the ride was in comfortable silence, neither of them provoking the other. Once Terushima’s dad had parked the car in their respective driveway, the three of them got out of the car and Terushima took out his things from the trunk. Daishou offered to carry Terushima’s bag and they walked into the house.

“We’re home!” Terushima called out upon opening the door. He stepped inside taking off his shoes, followed by Daishou, copying his movements. 

“Nii-chan!” Yuuki and Suku called out upon seeing him. She ran to him, her arms lifted up to be embraced in a hug by Terushima. Terushima quickly put the skateboard down and bent down to hug his younger sister. 

“Hi guys.” He said. “Cause any trouble?” 

“Nope!” they said in unison. Yuuki gasped upon seeing Daishou. “Shou-chan is here too!” 

She quickly let go of her brother and ran to Daishou. She wrapped her arms around his legs causing the latter to stumble, almost falling on top of her. “Hi,” he said softly.

“Shou-chan’s here?” Terushima heard his mother ask from the kitchen. She walked out and looked in the entryway. “Welcome back, and hello Daishou.”

“Hi mom.” Terushima greeted, walking over to her and hugging her and then quickly kissing the top of her head. 

“Hi.” Daishou greeted.

“Are you staying for dinner or for the night?” Terushima’s mom wondered.

Daishou shook his head. “Just for dinner madam.”

Terushima’s mom smiled and laughed softly. “No need to be formal, call me Suzume."

Daishou nodded. “I’ll be sure to remember that, Suzume.”

They were all silent for a moment until Terushima decided to break the silence. He pointed upstairs, “We’ll be upstairs, call us to set the table.” 

His mom nodded. “It should be finished in 15 to 20 minutes.” Terushima nodded and then picked up the skateboard he had put down. “When’d you get that?”

“Oh, Oikawa gave it to me.” Terushima informed. “He said he had a bunch, he gave Suguru one too.”

“Oh alright, did you thank him?”

“Of course I did mom.”

The fire alarm started beeping leading to his mom running to the kitchen, ending the conversation. Yuuki let go of Daishou’s legs and went to the living room where she immediately got distracted by the television. Suku joined her on the couch, but watching videos on their mom’s phone instead. The two boys went up to Terushima’s room and put the stuff down. Daishou pulled out his phone and messaged someone. Terushima assumed it to be Mika, letting her know he was eating at his house. Terushima flopped on his unmade bed, just as he had left it. 

“I’m beat.” He announced. 

Daishou laughed softly. “It’s been a long weekend.”

“Very.” Terushima agreed. He sat up and looked at Daishou. “Preliminaries on Thursday.”

Daishou sighed and leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. “Yup. It’s going to be an exhausting week.”

“Yeah, but hopefully it’ll be worth it.” 

“No matter what happens on Thursday and Friday,” Daishou stated. “We’ll both have tried our best.”

“Yeah.” he agreed. “Do you promise to try your hardest?”

“I promise.” Daishou said. “Do you?”

“I promise.”

Daishou looked back down at the blonde and smiled. “I need-”

The door opened slightly, interrupting what Daishou was about to say.

“Come set the table.” his dad said, poking his head in from the small crack he had opened. 

“Coming!” Terushima exclaimed, looking from the door back to Daishou. His dad left, walking back down the stairs. “What was it you were going to say?”

Daishou walked over to the door. “It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

Terushima stood up. “Tell me another time.” Daishou nodded and left the room, Terushima following close behind him. 

They walked down the stairs and entered the kitchen. Terushima directed Daishou to the bowls while he grabbed the utensils and put them on the table, he grabbed the napkins and put them in their respective places. After putting down the bowls, Daishou grabbed the cups for the six of them and put them down next to every plate. Once the two had finished, Terushima’s mom put the pot of ramen and put some into each bowl. His dad called his siblings into the dining room while Daishou, his mom and him took their seats. Suku took out the drinks from the fridge as they had forgotten to and then took his seat next to Yuuki. They prayed and began eating their meal. 

“So boys.” His mom said a few minutes after starting their meal. “How was your weekend at, who was it, Oikawa’s house?”

“It was fun.” Terushima assured. “And yeah it was Oikawa.” 

“Did you have fun too Daishou-kun?” his dad asked.

Daishou nodded his head, his mouth full. He swallowed his food and answered, “Yeah, I had a lot of fun.”

“What did you guys do?!” Yuuki asked.

“Just what regular people do when they hang out with their friends for a weekend Yuuki.” Terushima answered, showing a soft smile.

“Like what?” She wondered. “Did you talk about the people you like?”

Terushima slightly choked on his noodles, taken by surprise. “No, not that Yuuki.” 

She pouted. “Then what did you guys talk about?”

“That’s none of our business Yuuki.” His dad told her. “Whatever they talked about is between them and we don’t need to know.” 

“Ok.” She agreed, though Terushima knew she would most likely bug him about it later.

They continued eating their meal talking about what they had done while Terushima was gone. Though he had only been gone since Friday it felt like an eternity had passed since. They finished up their meal and he and Daishou washed the dishes. When Terushima finished trying the last cup he sighed in relief. 

“Finally done.” He said.

Daishou nodded his head. “Yup. I should get going.”

Terushima frowned slightly. “I hate that you live in a whole other prefecture. Ok, I’ll tell my dad.” He walked to the living room where his dad was seated on the couch and told him. His dad got up, put his shoes on and grabbed the keys and made his way to their car waiting for the two boys. Terushima grabbed his phone and waited for Daishou to grab whatever he had brought inside and the two of them went to his dad’s car. They sat in the backseat and put their seatbelts on, his dad quickly pulling out of the driveway soon after. They sat in silence once more, both on their phones. 

His dad parked in front of the address Daishou had given him and unlocked the doors. Both Daishou and Terushima got out of the car. He helped Daishou carry his bags and walked him to the front door.

“This is Mika’s house?” He asked Daishou.

Daishou nodded and rang the doorbell. “Yup.”

“You don’t have the key?” 

“Not yet, soon though.” Daishou informed.

He nodded his head and the door opened to a brunette girl wearing a pink shirt and black sweatpants. He assumed it was Mika.

“Daishou you’re back!” She exclaimed.

“Yeah,” Daishou replied. “Oh Yuuji, this is Mika, Mika this is Yuuji.

“Nice to meet you.” He said.

“Nice to meet you too.” She replied. “Oh come inside.” She moved out of the way and gave the two of them room to go inside. Daishou stepped inside and took off his shoes, Terushima didn’t move.

“I have to go home,” he said. He turned to look at his dad in the car but all he did was wave him off. Terushima felt his phone buzz and he looked at the message.

**_[Dad]: Go inside, I’ll be here. (8:20pm)_ **

Terushima nodded. “Nevermind, I’ll come inside.” Terushima entered and took off his shoes and put them next to Daishou's. Mika closed the door behind him and walked back to the kitchen where they were still eating supper. 

“Welcome back Daishou,” Another woman greeted, he assumed to be Mika’s mother.

“Thank you Tamiko,” Daishou said. “Hi Kazue.”

“Hello Daishou, had a nice time?”

“Yeah,” Daishou said, he looked at Terushima then back to the latter. “I did.”

“Oh, who’s this?” Kazue asked.

“This is my friend,” Daishou introduced. “Terushima Yuuji.”

He waved to them and they waved back. They continued eating and Terushima followed Daishou as he led the way to the room he was sleeping in. Terushima placed the duffle bag on the bed while Daishou put the skateboard down in the corner of the room. Terushima wandered off to where Shima was and looked at him.

“Can I touch him again?” He asked,

Daishou nodded his head and took Shima out and handed him to Terushima. Terushima held him and let Shima rest on his neck. Shima licked his face and Terushima smiled with glee.

“He kissed me!” Terushima exclaimed. 

Daishou looked at him and smiled. “Yeah, he does that to people he likes.”

“Really?” Terushima asked. “Who else has he done it to?”

“Just me.” 

Terushima looked at him with a blank expression. “You just declared yourself as someone he likes. What if he does it to people he doesn’t like?” 

“Then he doesn’t like us.” Daishou informed, sitting on the bed. “The only other person to have touched Shima is Mika anyways. He doesn’t have many people to like.”

“Why’d you only let us touch him?”

Daishou hesitated. “I trust you guys. More than anyone.” 

Terushima felt his cheeks go pink.  “Thanks.”

They stayed silent for a bit. “I should go, my dad’s waiting.”

“Oh, yeah.” Daishou said. He stood up. “I’ll walk you to the door.”

Terushima nodded his head and walked out of the room, Daishou following behind him. Terushima waved goodbye to Mika and her parents and put his shoes back on and opened the door. His dad waved to him from the car. Daishou leaned against the door frame, his arms across his chest.

“See you soon.” He said.

Daishou nodded his head. “Yeah, good luck.”

“You too.” He replied. He waved goodbye and walked over to his car and got in the passenger’s seat. 

“Ready to go?” His dad asked. He nodded his head and his dad started the car, driving off a few minutes later. 

Thursday felt so far away to him.


End file.
